You're Still the One
by Luna0603
Summary: A collection of unrelated Mileven one-shots spanning various situations. Some are canon, some are AU. All are full of Mileven fluff.
1. Perfect

**A/N: Hello! I had an idea, and I am trying it out. I am constantly listening to music, and oftentimes I will be listening to a song and it will strike a connection to something in my mind. Specifically for the sake of this story, there are certain songs that just scream "Mileven" to me. So, I thought it would be fun to put together a collection of one-shots inspired by different songs that remind me of Mileven. These will not be "songfics," as I am not working the lyrics into the body of the story; but these are little stories that I will write after listening to a song that inspires something. The chapters will not be related to one another, so at the beginning of each chapter, I will set it up so you know when it is taking place. I'm not here to tell anyone how to live their lives, but if you want the full effect that I am going for (i.e. if you want to be extra, like me), feel free to listen to the song that inspired the chapter prior to reading the chapter. If not, and you're just here for fluffy stories, that's cool too! I hope you enjoy them! **

**Inspiration song: "Perfect" by Ed Sheeran. This song could have literally been written for Mike and El.**

**Setting: November 1985, directly following the events of season 3.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Stranger Things or any of its original characters. I also do not own "Perfect" by Ed Sheeran. **

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Mike plugged the radio into the outlet behind the Byers' new house and double checked that he had grabbed the right cassette tape. Despite the chilly November air, Mike's palms were sweating. He tugged at the hem of his sweater and smoothed his hands over the front of his khakis, closed the cassette into the radio that was sitting on the concrete patio, and exhaled deeply, waiting patiently.

This was his last night in Indianapolis. In the morning, he and Nancy were driving back to Hawkins, and Monday morning he would be back at school. He wouldn't be able to see El again until Christmas break.

Thanksgiving had been wonderful. He and Nancy arrived Wednesday night, and Mike would never forget the way El had jumped into his arms on the front porch, almost knocking him backwards down the front steps. Thursday during Thanksgiving dinner, they had all gone around the table saying what they were thankful for, and when it was El's turn, she had said how thankful she was to Joyce, Jonathan, and Will for welcoming her into their family before squeezing Mike's hand under the table and adding that she was thankful he was able to be there.

El always had a way of making Mike melt. She was the only thing that made him speechless, and Mike knew that even with El's powers gone, he was truly defenseless against her. He was putty in her hands, and he would do anything to see her smile even for second. That's why he found himself standing outside in the cold night air on his last night in town.

"I can't wait for you to visit over Christmas," Mike had said early that afternoon as he and El sat on the couch in the family room, El snuggled into his side while they watched a cheesy Christmas movie on the television.

"I won't be there until the day after Christmas," El had reminded him, the disappointment thick in her voice. Joyce had agreed to drive El and Will to Hawkins on December 26 and allow them to stay a whole week so they could spend New Years with their friends. El had thanked her, as she genuinely was grateful, but she was still sad that she wouldn't be spending Christmas Day with Mike.

"So we'll have our Christmas one day late," Mike shrugged and pulled her closer. "We get to spend an entire week together." El nodded and wrapped her arm around Mike's waist, but he noticed there was still a trace of sadness in her smile.

"What's wrong?" he asked. El looked up at him and hoped he didn't think she would sound childish.

"It's just that Max told me we'll miss the Snow Ball since we're coming so late. So I won't be able to go to the dance with you again," El revealed sheepishly.

That's when Mike had gotten his idea. He had thought about it during the rest of the movie, and afterward he had told El that he had a surprise for her. He had told her to pick out a dress, but a warm dress, and meet him in the backyard at 8PM.

Now, he was standing on the patio, his hands in his pockets to keep them warm, and his watch read 7:58. Mike sniffed and rubbed his nose which was cold to the touch, and he started to wonder if this had been such a good idea after all. He didn't want El to get too cold or get sick. Plus, what if she thought he was being too cheesy?

Every ounce of doubt fled Mike's mind when the patio door opened and El stepped outside. Mike's mouth dropped open, and he nearly forgot to breathe when his eyes rested on his girlfriend. She wore a red long-sleeved velvet dress with a black belt around the waist. The dress ended at her knees, and El's legs were covered in black tights. El walked slowly toward Mike who was planted into the ground.

"Mike?" she asked timidly.

"El, you're gorgeous," Mike marveled, though he knew 'gorgeous' was no where near enough to describe the angel in front of him. She smiled and blushed at his words which warmed Mike's heart, and he forgot how cold he had been moments before.

"So, what is the surprise?" El asked, reminding him of why he had asked her to meet him out here in the first place.

"Oh, right! Uh," Mike looked at the radio on the ground and then back to El. "I know that you were upset about missing the Snow Ball this year, so I thought maybe I could bring the Snow Ball to you." He cringed internally at his choice of words, but El's smile somehow spread even wider across her face, and Mike smiled back, relieved that she didn't find his gesture too cheesy.

"You want to dance with me here?" El asked.

"El, I would dance with you anywhere," Mike blushed.

He leaned down to click the 'play' button, and the cassette started a familiar tune through the speakers. Mike held out his hand for El to take, and he led her to the edge of the patio and into the grass. He let go of her hand, and El instinctively wrapped her arms around Mike's neck while he rested his hands on her waist as they swayed to the music filling the night sky.

The words to "Every Breath You Take" took El back to the first time they had danced together, and Mike smiled at the look on her face when he was certain that she recognized the song. In his mind, Mike had started considering this _their_ song, even though they had only danced to it the one time.

He looked down and met El's eyes gazing up at him in adoration, and Mike knew in that moment that he had everything he would ever need in life. He knew he would be eternally grateful for that night when he unexpectedly stumbled upon a lost, scared child in the woods. How was he to know that he had actually stumbled upon the love of his life? He thought back to each time she had saved him… saving his life at the quarry, sacrificing herself to destroy the demogorgon, closing the gate, putting herself between him and Billy after nearly being choked to death, and of course battling the Mind Flayer. She was badass. Bitchin'. She was the strongest, most incredible and selfless person Mike knew, and for some reason that Mike was not sure he would ever fully understand, she wanted to be with him.

"Mike?" El's quiet voice pulled him from his admiration. "What are you thinking about?"

"You," he answered simply. "And how amazing you are… and beautiful. So beautiful."

"I think you are amazing too," El smiled. "I wish you didn't have to leave tomorrow. I wish we could just be together all the time."

Mike would be lying if he said he didn't feel the same way. He looked into her loving brown eyes and knew those would be the same eyes staring back at him in eighty years after a life full of love, happiness, and adventure. After decades of seeing the world together. After raising children and creating their own traditions to pass on. After every argument ending in hugs and kisses, and after every trial and obstacle life throws their way to overcome. Even at fourteen years old, Mike knew he was holding his soulmate, and he would never let her go. So when El said that she wishes they could be together all the time, Mike smiled and leaned his forehead against hers.

"Someday we will be," he murmured to her.

El pulled his face closer to hers until their lips met, and she kissed him softly. Mike returned the gentle kiss, pulling back after a moment and letting his lips linger against hers, feeling her hot breath on his cold skin.

"I love you," Mike said quietly.

"I love you too," El smiled. She moved her arms from his neck and wrapped them around his waist, hugging him tightly as she rested her head against his chest. El closed her eyes and breathed in deeply, taking in Mike's scent and feeling the steady pound of his heartbeat while they swayed to the music playing in the background.

They stayed this way for two more songs, and Mike began to wonder if it was possible for El to have fallen asleep on her feet leaning against him, when he suddenly felt a cold, wet speck on his cheek. Mike looked down at El and saw several small white flakes dazzling her red dress. He looked up at the black sky and saw swirls of white snowflakes falling around them.

"El, it's snowing," he nudged her, and El raised her head from his chest to look around. Her face lit up in delight, and as snowflakes landed in her hair, the glow from the patio light illuminated them, creating the illusion that El was shining. Mike couldn't take his eyes off of her; she truly was an angel.

"Thank you for doing all of this," El said finally. "It's perfect."

That's it. That's the word Mike was looking for; the only word that could truly describe her.

"You're perfect," Mike whispered, lifting her chin and meeting her lips for another soft kiss. El rested her head against Mike's chest again, and they were the only two people in the world. Tomorrow, they would separate again and life would continue on until the next time they could be together. But tonight, it was just Mike and El, and that was all they needed.

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**A/N: I hope you liked it! If this is generally well-received, I will continue this collection. I have a running list of songs spanning various decades and genres that will be inspiring upcoming chapters. Leave me a review and let me know what you think!**


	2. Can't Fight This Feeling

**A/N: Welcome to the second installment of this collection. Remember, each chapter is its own story and they are not connected to one another. If I choose to do a multi-chapter arc at some point, I will let you know when it happens.**

**Jenicakrung: Aww thank you!**

**Guest: No, none of this is related to Tied Together With A Smile or any of my other stories. This is its own thing : )**

**39CluesStrangerThingsFan-Star: Thank you! I've liked Ed Sheeran much longer than I've watched Stranger Things, and I always thought "Perfect" was the perfect (no pun intended) wedding song. Then I watched Stranger Things, and I was like, NOPE, "Perfect" is THE Mileven song.**

**Phieillydinyia: Thank you!**

**Guest: Thank you so much. There will definitely be more of these. I don't have a set number of chapters in mind, so I'll just keep writing them as I think of them!**

**Song: "Can't Fight this Feeling" by REO Speedwagon. Y'all know I had to.**

**Setting: Between seasons 2 and 3. After the events of the Snow Ball.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Stranger Things or any of its original characters. I do not own "Can't Fight this Feeling" by REO Speedwagon.**

**0-0-0**

Mike lay wide awake staring up at the ceiling. He restlessly turned his head toward the clock on his nightstand. 11:27PM. He wasn't very sleepy, and it wasn't very late yet. During Christmas break, Mike's parents didn't really enforce a bedtime, so Mike could generally go to bed whenever he wanted. Tonight, he had laid down at 10PM, not because he was sleepy, but because his body was physically tired. His mind was wide awake, running a thousand miles a minute, making it impossible for slumber to overcome him. That's how it had been every day this week.

Every day since the Snow Ball.

El had looked absolutely stunning in that dress with her hair styled and makeup done. Mike would never forget the sparks that flew when he took her hand to lead her onto the dancefloor and how his heart had melted as they started swaying to the music and all the uncertainty had disappeared from El's face. She hadn't known how to dance; she knew that nobody at the school other than Mike and their friends knew who she was. But despite her insecurities, she still showed up. For him.

She always showed up for him. When Troy was about to pummel Mike to the ground after Mike had shoved him in the gym, El was there. When Troy made Mike jump off that cliff at the quarry, likely to his death, El was there. When he and the entire party, Hopper, Joyce, Nancy, Steve, and Jonathan were about to be killed by demodogs, El was there. Mike's admiration of El grew every day, and not even just because of her ability to save him with her powers.

As Mike lay there, unable to sleep, he thought about the cute look of confusion that would cross El's face when she heard a word or phrase she didn't know; the look of satisfaction when she mastered something new; the adorable dimples on her cheeks when she smiled at him or laughed at one of his jokes. He wanted to be the one to make her smile like that every day.

Why hadn't he told her how he felt at the dance? Sure, he kissed her, and she kissed him back. But Mike hadn't been able to find the courage to tell her how he felt about her. After all, he was some skinny, dorky kid in AV club who spent his time at the arcade or playing D&D with his friends. And El was beautiful. She could do way better than Mike, and he knew that… but did she _want_ to?

Mike knew that El kissed him back, and he was pretty sure that she liked him as much as he liked her, but until he actually put himself out there, he had no way to know that he and El were really anything more than just good friends. He hadn't seen her in a whole week, hadn't heard her voice or felt her touch. What if she thought they w_ere_ just friends? What if Mike keeps beating around the bush too long, and any feelings El may have for him go away? What if he keeps doubting himself and keeping his feelings inside, and he never actually gets to be with the only person he has ever wanted to be with?

He couldn't let that happen.

Mike tossed his blankets off and quickly pulled on a pair of gray sweatpants. He grabbed his jacket and snuck quietly downstairs, knowing his parents and sisters were sleeping in their rooms down the hall. He made it to the garage and hopped on his bike, heading out into the cold December night.

There was no traffic at this time of night. Mike was the only one on the road, and he was pedaling like his life depended on it. He made it across town in record time, his lungs feeling like they were on fire. But he had to see El.

When Mike reached the woods, it became a little trickier to bike through the sticks and mud. Luckily it hadn't snowed, but the terrain still slowed him down a bit. Soon, Hopper's cabin came into view. Mike saw the silhouette of the small house getting closer and closer with each gasp of cold air.

The house was dark. Its silhouette was only illuminated by the moon and stars in the sky. All the lights were out, except one. As Mike got closer, he saw one small square of light; it was a dim light, probably shielded by the curtains. Mike knew it was El's bedroom. He ignored the protesting pain in his chest and pedaled even harder, drawn to that window like a ship to shore. He knew she was in there. He could feel himself getting closer to her.

Finally, Mike reached the cabin. He road right up to El's window and gently laid his bike down underneath it. Mike was sweating despite the cold air, and he wiped his forehead before placing his hands on his knees for a moment and gasping for air. After he was able to sort of compose himself, Mike reached forward and softly tapped on El's window. He waited. Nothing happened. He reached forward to tap again, slightly harder. This time, he saw El's unmistakable form appear and walk cautiously toward the window. She pulled the curtain away, and Mike held his breath at how beautiful she looked, even so late at night. El was wearing flannel pajama pants and a Hawkins PD t-shirt that hung below her thighs. Her hair was messily hanging above her shoulders as she lifted the window up.

"M-Mike?" she asked.

"Hi," Mike breathed. He stood there for a moment, taking in the sight of the girl he had gone a whole week without.

"What are you doing here?" El asked slowly. "It is so late."

Mike glanced at his watch and saw that it was midnight. He saw El shiver from the cold air that was freely spilling into her room, and she wrapped her arms around the front of her body.

"I needed to see you," Mike replied. "C-can I come in?"

El glanced cautiously behind her at the closed bedroom door. Mike knew that El wanted to respect Hopper's rules and wishes, but he hoped she would let him come inside. She turned back to face him with a small smile on her face and nodded. Mike hoisted himself up on the windowsill, and El helped pull him through the opening into her bedroom. When she turned to face him after closing the window, El noticed how hard he was still breathing.

"Are you okay?" she asked, stepping toward him in concern. Mike nodded.

"Yeah, I just… need to catch my breath," he said. "I g-got here… as fast as I could."

"You should sit," El reached up to touch his flushed cheek and quickly pulled her hand back, surprised that his skin was as cold as ice. "Mike, you're freezing."

"I know," he breathed. Mike finally had control of his breathing again and his heart rate was returning to normal as the heat from the room started to thaw his body.

"Mike, why did you come here so late?" El asked again.

She was a mere inches away from him. Her big brown eyes were staring up at him filled with both concern and adoration. Her soft pink lips were slightly parted, and without a second thought, Mike took one step to close the gap between their bodies, and his lips were crashing into hers. He placed his hands on El's waist while she moved hers up into his hair, and Mike felt all the warmth return to his body as he kissed her.

"I missed you, El," Mike murmured when he had pulled back, his forehead pressed against hers.

"I missed you too," El replied, snaking her arms between his t-shirt and unzipped jacket and hugging him tightly. Mike lifted El's chin and softly kissed her again.

"El, do you know what it means when I do that?" he asked.

"When you k-kiss me?" El asked, and Mike nodded.

"Yeah," he said.

"Before you kissed me the first time… in the cafeteria… before the 353 days," El started softly. "You told me that you l-liked me as… _more_ than a friend. Mike, what is m-more than a friend?"

"It means I don't think of you the same way I think of Will or Lucas or Dustin or Max," Mike explained. "It's like, you have this special place in my… in my heart. And I just want to see you and talk to you and be with you, like all the time."

El smiled shyly and blushed a bit as she looked down. Mike used one hand to raise her chin back up so his eyes met hers once again before continuing.

"And the reason I want to be with you all the time is because you're so beautiful, El, and you're so smart and brave and bitchin'." El giggled, and Mike tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear with a soft smile before continuing. "It's just… I don't always think that highly of myself. But when I'm with you, it's like all those insecurities – the bad thoughts – they don't matter. You just make me feel like I've never felt before. And I can't keep it inside any longer. I wanted you to know exactly how I feel about you, because I never, ever want to lose you."

"You won't," El whispered. She raised a hand to cup the side of Mike's face. "I have in-se-cur-i-ties… bad thoughts… too. But with you I feel… safe. I want to be with you all the time too, Mike."

Mike met her lips again with his and kissed her deeply, wrapping his arms tightly around her frame, not wanting to ever let go.

"Stay with me tonight?" El asked timidly against his chest.

"Uh, wouldn't you be afraid of Hopper catching us?" Mike asked. El tilted her head, and Mike heard the bedroom door's lock click. She looked up at him, and he couldn't help but chuckle at the smirk on her face.

"Okay, but I'll still have to leave really early so he doesn't suspect anything," Mike relented. El nodded and took his hand, leading him to her bed. He took of his jacket and shoes and crawled into bed next to her, wrapping one arm around her shoulders as she rested her head on his chest. "El, can I turn off the light?"

"Um," El blushed. "I usually sleep with the light on… Don't like the dark."

Mike nodded his understanding, his heart aching for her because he knew this fear was a result of her upbringing in that _place_.

"That's okay," Mike said, kissing the top of her head. "I can sleep with the light on, as long as you feel safe and comfortable."

He slipped his hands under the hem of El's shirt and rested his hands on her back, just craving the feel of her soft, warm skin on his. El snuggled even closer into him, and after a moment, Mike felt El lightly jerk her head against his chest, and the bedroom light turned off. They both fell into their first peaceful sleep all week, cuddled into each other, just the way they were meant to be.

**0-0-0**

**A/N: Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you have any requests for a one-shot, feel free to mention it in the reviews or send me a PM. Please leave me a review and let me know what you think!**


	3. Nothing's Gonna Change My Love For You

**A/N: Welcome to the third installment! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and that your 2020 is off to a good start. Please enjoy!**

**Jenicakrung: I've never watched that, so I will check it out and see what I can do!**

**39CluesStrangerThingsFan-Star: Glad you liked it : )**

**Guest: Thank you, I'm glad you liked it. I would've loved to see more in the show about their relationship between the Snow Ball and the start of season 3.**

**Disneyprincess315: I completely agree! I wish we could've seen that progression on the show too. I'm glad you're enjoying it, hope you like this one!**

**Guest: Thank you! I appreciate that.**

**Guest: I'm glad you like it!**

**Song: "Nothing's Gonna Change My Love for You" by George Benson**

**Setting: Hawkins, Indiana, December 1986. A little over one year after the Byers moved away. Our gang is 15 years old, and Will and El are in town for winter break.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Stranger Things, any of its original characters, or the song "Nothing's Gonna Change My Love for You."**

**0-0-0**

The basement door closed, and the footsteps jogging down the stairs signified that all six of them were there now. They greeted Dustin when he reached the bottom step and took a seat on the end of the couch.

"I got here as soon as I could. Had to dig the car out so Mom could give me a ride," Dustin explained. "So what's up?"

"Yeah, Stalker, what is so important that we all had to meet up at ten in the morning the first day of Christmas break?" Max asked.

Lucas's five friends all looked at him, awaiting an explanation. El and Will had just gotten into town last night, and the six of them were going to hang out later in the day anyway, but Lucas couldn't wait. He looked over at Mike who was sitting on the couch next to Eleven, her arm loosely intertwined with his as her head rested on his shoulder. She was probably still tired from the four hour drive the night before. When Lucas had called his friends on the supercom that morning, he could hear in Mike's voice when he replied that he was annoyed about cutting into his alone time with El, but sitting here now, Lucas could see the concern growing on Mike's face the longer Lucas was silent.

"There's no easy way to say this," Lucas sighed. "My parents… my parents are getting a divorce. They told me and Erica this morning."

"What?! Aw, man, I'm sorry," Mike offered.

"Yeah, I'm sorry, too. That's rough," Dustin added sympathetically.

El saw the concern and sadness on each of her friends' faces, and she watched as Max immediately took Lucas's hand and squeezed it to comfort him.

"Thanks," Lucas mumbled. "Looking back now, I guess the signs were there… but I just thought it was a rough patch. I didn't expect _this_."

"Well, if you need anything at all, even just to vent, I'm here for you. I know what you're going through," Will said gently, and Lucas thanked him with a sad smile.

The party stayed all afternoon, but the conversation soon changed from the topic of Lucas's parents. They took turns playing each other on the Atari, and Mrs. Wheeler ordered them pizza for lunch. Even though they spent the afternoon doing things they would normally be doing, El felt something different about the atmosphere in the air. She couldn't quite place it, but the boys and Max were acting different. It was almost like they were favoring Lucas for some reason. Lucas got to play first, and if it was a round he wasn't playing, he always got to play the winner. He ended up playing the Atari twice as much as anyone else. And when Mrs. Wheeler asked what toppings they wanted on the pizza, Mike told her to add sausage to it. El knew Mike didn't like sausage on pizza, but she also knew it was Lucas's favorite.

A few hours later, Dustin announced that he needed to get ready to go because his mom would be there in five minutes to pick him up.

"I should get going too," Max added. She pulled El into a tight hug. "It's great to have you back for a while. I'll see you tomorrow."

Max then pulled Lucas into a long embrace, and El saw her whispering into the boy's ear while rubbing his back. Lucas nodded at whatever Max said and kissed her cheek before Max pulled back, waved her friends goodbye, and left through the basement door.

"You know, you don't _have_ to leave… You're welcome to stay here as long as you want," Mike said to Lucas who was putting his shoes on and reaching for his coat.

"I appreciate that, but… I've got to go home sometime," Lucas replied sadly.

Mike nodded and reminded Lucas that he could come over any time he wanted. Lucas hugged Mike, Will, and El before leaving for the evening.

"Mike," El said softly much later that night from Nancy's bed. Since Nancy and Jonathan had their own apartment in Indianapolis where they were going to college, her bedroom was available for El to use while she visited.

"Yeah?" Mike asked as he turned to face her. He had just kissed her good night and was almost to the door when he heard her say his name.

"What is… di-vorce?" El asked softly.

The realization hit Mike that El had never heard that word before. He gaped for a moment before pursing his lips, thinking of how best to explain it to her. Slowly, he walked back to the side of Nancy's bed and sat on the edge next to El, linking her fingers with his own.

"It's like… well, you know how Will's parents don't live together anymore? And Max's parents?" Mike started. He thought about mentioning Hopper and his ex-wife but decided against it.

"Yes," El nodded.

"That's because they got a divorce. It means they were married, but they're not anymore… A divorce is like a big breakup," Mike explained.

"A big breakup," El repeated.

"Yeah. There's a lot of legal stuff involved, and it usually involves splitting everything they own in half, and sometimes people lose their house or their kids… It can be really messy," Mike continued.

He was silent while El processed the new information. El had always known that Will's mom and dad didn't live together and that Max's mom and dad didn't live together, and even that Max's mom was married to a man that wasn't her dad. But El had never questioned any of it until now.

"If it's so… messy… then why would people get a divorce?" she asked, scrunching her brow over her wide brown eyes.

"People never really _plan_ to get a divorce. When you're married, you think you'll be together forever… but sometimes people fall out of love with each other, and that's when a divorce happens," Mike said.

"Fall _out_ of love?" El repeated.

She knew she had fallen _in_ love with Mike… but _out_ of love? El tried to imagine not getting butterflies in her stomach at the sight of Mike's smile… not feeling sparks fly at the touch of his soft skin… his voice not melting her heart when he says her name or tells her he loves her. El couldn't fathom the idea of falling _out_ of love with him.

"How does someone fall out of love?" El asked.

"I don't know," Mike shrugged. "I'm sure it happens gradually, like over time."

El nodded slowly, still trying to wrap her head around the concept. Mike leaned forward to kiss her again, his soft lips pressed against hers while he cupped the side of her face and gingerly stroked her hair.

"I'm sure Lucas will be okay once he's had time to process everything," Mike said reassuringly.

"Yeah," El whispered.

"We need to go to sleep. I'll be next door if you need anything," Mike said and squeezed her hand. He kissed her again, letting his lips linger on hers a little longer this time. "I love you."

"I love you too," El replied.

She watched as Mike closed the door behind him, leaving her alone in the dark with only the glow from the streetlights peeking through the blinds on Nancy's windows. El tried to fall asleep, but she just found herself tossing and turning, unable to get Mike's words out of her mind.

_Sometimes people fall out of love with each other… It happens gradually… Over time…_

El laid on her back staring up at the ceiling, wide awake. She looked toward the closed door leading into the hallway and knew that Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler were sleeping just a few feet away. Still, she had to risk it. El pushed back her blankets and tiptoed to Nancy's bedroom door, turning the doorknob and slowly pulling it toward herself to open it. When it was open wide enough for her body to slip out, El snuck through into the hallway and quietly made her way down the hall to Mike's room.

Gingerly, El took the doorknob in her hand and pushed forward, opening Mike's door just enough to slip inside. She closed the door behind herself and looked toward Mike's bed. She could see the dark form of her boyfriend sleeping. El watched as he subtly rose and fell with each breath. She slowly padded her way to the side of his bed and saw that he was sleeping on his side, facing away from her. El gently lifted the covers and slid underneath them, scooting closer to Mike on her side and snuggling right up behind him, slipping an arm around his waist.

El knew that she was taking on the role that Mike normally did when they cuddled, and he didn't fit perfectly into her body the way she did into his because he was so much longer than her when they laid next to each other. But El wrapped one leg around Mike's and squeezed her arm around his waist while nuzzling her face into the crook of his neck and sighing contentedly. At this, she felt Mike begin to stir, and he jerked slightly when he felt someone wrapped around himself.

"Shh, it's just me," El whispered.

"El?" Mike whispered groggily, turning his head to look at her over his shoulder. "What are you doing in here? Did you have a bad dream?"

She loosened her hold on him so he could turn around to his other side and face her, but once he was facing her she quickly wrapped her arm around his waist again, not wanting to be without contact.

"No bad dreams. I just wanted to be close to you," El replied so lowly that it was barely audible.

"I always want to be close to you, El, but my parents would freak if they found us like this. I don't want them to make you go home early," Mike said before leaning forward to kiss her forehead.

"I don't want to go home at all. I just want to stay with you," El said.

"I would love that, but this is how it has to be right now. In a few years, things will be different, and we can be together all the time and sleep together every night," Mike promised, squeezing her against himself.

"In a few years… you could fall out of love with me," El whispered, refusing to make eye contact with him as she said it.

"What?! El, that could never happen," Mike insisted.

"You don't know that, Mike," El countered. "You said it yourself… sometimes it just happens. Gradually."

"Yeah, I did say that, but I wasn't talking about us," Mike said. "That will never happen to us."

"You said… no one thinks it will happen to them. But it does," El reminded him.

Mike sighed and cursed himself for how he had explained all of this to El a few hours ago. He used one hand to gently lift her chin so El was finally looking at him, and Mike saw fear staring back at him in El's tear-filled eyes.

"El, I'm sorry I didn't do a better job explaining it," he whispered. "I know it won't happen to us because I know we can make it through anything. Look how much we've already made it through together."

"But I live so far away… What if you meet somebody else-"

"I don't want to meet anybody else," Mike said definitively. "I know things aren't always easy for us. The distance sucks. But it makes our time together so much better, El. And in a few years, we won't have distance between us anymore. We've overcome the bad men, the Upside Down, losing Hopper, you moving away… there's already been so much that's happened, and I've never loved you more. We can make it through anything, El. Anything."

"B-but… there are other girls, Mike. Other girls who are prettier and smarter than me," El sniffled.

"You're so smart, El. You don't give yourself enough credit for how smart you are. And prettier than you? That's not possible," Mike said, cupping El's face. "You are all I want in life. I can't imagine being without you, okay? I love you, El. I love you so much."

"I love you too, Mike," El whispered. She bit her bottom lip, and Mike could tell she was still hesitant about the idea of falling out of love.

"Listen, you're right. I can't see the future. But I can promise that I'll always be here for you. The best part of my day will always be getting to talk to you. I'm always going to do anything I can to make this relationship work and keep you feeling loved and happy," Mike promised. "I can't imagine ever falling out of love with you, El. You're my whole world."

El placed her hand on the back of Mike's head and pulled his lips to meet hers. Their lips moved perfectly in unison, and El felt Mike's grip on her waist tighten as she was pulled firmly against his body.

"I love you, Mike. You mean everything to me."

Mike smiled and kissed her forehead, and El snuggled against him, burying her face in his chest and breathing in his scent. She was careful not to fall asleep, knowing she still had to go back to Nancy's room to avoid getting herself and Mike in trouble with his parents, but she wanted to be wrapped up in his arms for as long as she could before going back to bed. She rubbed his back, feeling almost silly that she had gotten so worked up over the words Mike had used when explaining Lucas's parents' situation. No one could ever see the future, but El was confident in knowing that Mike felt just as strongly for her and she did for him, and nothing could ever change that.

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**A/N: I hoped you liked this one. Thanks for being patient in between updates. Leave me a review and let me know what you think!**


	4. You Ain't Woman Enough (To Take My Man)

**A/N: Thanks for being patient in between all these installments! This one isn't meant to be taken too seriously, so I hope you have fun with it.**

**Guest: Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed it. I am definitely a sucker for Mileven fluff.**

**Jenicakrung: Aww thank you!**

**Ishiptoast: Thank you! I'm glad you liked it so much!**

**Song: "You Ain't Woman Enough (To Take My Man)" by Loretta Lynn**

**Setting: Benny's restaurant, Mike and El are in their senior year of high school.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Stranger things or any of its original characters or the song "You Ain't Woman Enough (To Take My Man)".**

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Mike and El were sitting across from one another in a booth at Benny's enjoying a dinner of burgers, fries, and milkshakes. As Mike was telling her about his day, El caught a glimpse over his shoulder of the girls sitting three booths behind them: Stacey Albright, Jennifer Hayes, Jessie McBride, and Laura Rothman. The four of them kept openly looking toward Mike and El's booth and then talking and giggling in shushed tones amongst themselves. Mike didn't notice because his back was to them, but El was growing more irritated each time one of the girls would glance their way.

During their sophomore year, the gym teacher who was also the high school's track and field coach approached Mike after gym class one day to talk to him about joining the track team. Mike hadn't had any interest at first, but El encouraged him to give it a shot, so he relented. To his surprise, he found that not only was he pretty good at sprinting long distances, but the practices entailed a lot of long distance running which allowed him some alone time to clear his mind.

After joining the track team that year, Mike's consistent workouts started to have an effect on his long, lanky body. He gradually became more toned in his arms, legs, chest, and stomach. He certainly wasn't becoming built or bulky like a lot of the football players at school, but now that he was in his third year on the track team, Mike's body had a much more defined and toned shape to it, which El definitely was not complaining about.

She did, however, not enjoy the fact that other girls at school noticed this as well. El trusted Mike with her heart and her life, and she knew he would never consider another girl, but she still felt a flare of jealousy and possessiveness when another girl lingered too long when talking to him. Mike has noticed these occurrences once or twice, and he was quick to remind El how much he loves her and that she has nothing to worry about. Though secretly, he kind of liked knowing how protective El was of him.

El turned her attention back to Mike when he started to stand from the booth, saying he was going to go to the counter to pay for dinner and then use the restroom, and then they could leave. She nodded and slurped down the rest of her milkshake while he walked up to the counter.

Three booths away, Stacey, Jennifer, Jessie, and Laura filed out of their booth and approached El, looming over her at the end of the table.

"Can I help you with something?" El asked, looking up at the four girls.

"We're actually here to help _you_," Stacey smirked, her arms crossed over her chest as she looked down her nose at El.

"How so?" El furrowed her brow.

"We're going to tell you the truth that your boyfriend is too afraid to tell you," Jessie began. "I'm afraid he's just not in love with you anymore, El."

El actually laughed out loud as the words came out of Jessie's mouth, and Jessie's eyes doubled in size out of shock as El clutched her side in laughter.

"That's a good one," El chuckled, wiping her eyes that had begun to water during her laughing fit.

"It's not a joke," Stacey glared, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. "We're trying to give you the courtesy of telling you so you can get out of this with some of your dignity. I could've been a bitch and just taken him from you, but I thought I'd try and be nice."

"You couldn't take him from me even if you tried," El said more seriously. She was losing the humor in this situation and was starting to get annoyed with these girls.

"I wouldn't be so sure," Stacey said tauntingly, cocking her head to the side in feigned innocence. "Mike and I have gym class together three days a week."

"So?" El shrugged and raised an eyebrow, looking for Stacey's point.

"He checks her out all the time," Jennifer said, placing a hand on her hip. "He can't keep his eyes off of her during stretches."

"I know you can't relate because guys don't really ever look at you, but if you could see the way he looks at me in gym class…" Stacey trailed off.

"It's, like, borderline gawking," Laura chimed in.

El felt her cheeks burn red as she envisioned what she was sure _actually_ happened during their gym class, which was Stacey wearing too-short cloth shorts and a skin tight t-shirt, drawing attention to herself during stretches and going out of her way to flirt with Mike and probably a number of other boys. El was confident that if there was any interaction between Mike and Stacey, it was certainly not in the way of Mike showing her any actual attention.

But, El couldn't pretend that Stacey was unattractive by any means, and she knew the girl's exaggerated tale may have been sparked by an actual event. El was certain that if Stacey ever caught Mike 'gawking' at her, it was likely an unintentional wandering eye that he quickly diverted when he caught himself. She knew their relationship went far deeper than physical attraction, and she wasn't concerned for a moment by what Stacey and her friends were saying.

"Well, thank you for your concern, but Mike and I are just fine," El smiled sweetly.

"For now," Stacey said smugly. "But know that when you see him with me, I tried to warn you."

"I'll never see him with you," El scoffed. "Even if I were to drop dead right now, Mike would never want you."

"And why not?" Stacey demanded, pursing her lips.

"You're boring. You're the typical pretty cheerleader, mean girl type, and he's not into that," El said simply. "He has something unique with me, and it's something you would never be able to replace."

Stacey was stunned, staring at El with her mouth gaping open. She sputtered out a few noises, unsure of what to say, before being able to form a sentence.

"We'll see about that," Stacey managed.

"We sure will," El grinned slyly, sliding out of the booth. She had seen Mike walking back to their table, but the other girls didn't see him as he was approaching behind them.

"Hey, what's going o-"

Mike was cut off by El's lips as she crashed them into his. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him deeply into the kiss. Mike momentarily forgot they were standing in the middle of Benny's, and he reciprocated the kiss, feeling shocked but letting El's tongue slip between his lips and begin wrestling with his own.

El moved her arms down the front of Mike's body until she reached his waist, then she slipped her arms around his waist and pulled him closer to her. She dipped her hands into the back pockets of Mike's jeans and squeezed his ass, causing his eyes to shoot wide open. El pulled back from the kiss with a smug and satisfied look on her face.

"You ready to go, babe?" she asked, smiling innocently up at him as she cupped the side of his face with one hand.

"Uh, y-yeah," Mike stuttered, his mind still blown from El's sudden and passionate display of affection.

She smiled and took his hand in hers, leading him toward the door of the restaurant. Before opening the door, El turned back to look at Stacey and her friends who were rooted to the floor, gaping after the two of them.

"Have a good night, Stacey!" El called with a wave.

El pushed open the door and walked outside with Mike, confident that after that, Mike probably didn't even remember Stacey's name. El trusted him more than anything, but she had to admit that was fun.

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**A/N: I know this wasn't a long one, but I love this song, and I thought it would make for a cute, fun, light-hearted little story. Please remember to leave me a review, and I'll be back with more soon!**


	5. Summer School

**A/N: Hello! So, I'm switching it up with this one. This wasn't inspired by or based on any song that I heard. This idea was actually sent to me by UnoPeso22, and I agreed that it would be super fun to write. (I have some requests from some other reviewers too, and I haven't forgotten!) I hope you all have fun with this one : )**

**OdoMango: Thank you! I hope you think this one is sweet and fun too, as that's what I was going for haha.**

**Guest124: Aww thank you. I hope you like this one too!**

**Disneyprincess315: Sassy El all the way! And I'm glad you liked the different route rather than the predictable jealousy route. Though jealous Mileven can be fun too…**

**Niko: Exactly!**

**Shrike176: Thank you. I'm glad you've liked this so far, and I am glad that chapter 3 specifically spoke to you. I hope you enjoy this one too!**

**UnoPeso22: Thank you for your thoughts on all 4 chapters! I'm glad that you're enjoying this so much. I'm looking forward to writing Mileven in a bunch of different situations. Gotta do something to pass the time until season 4 lol. Thanks for this idea, I hope it was what you had in mind and that it lives up to what you envisioned!**

**Setting: June 1985, a few weeks before the events of Season 3. Canon divergence: Hopper pulled some strings to get El enrolled in Hawkins High, so she needs to get caught up academically over the summer.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Stranger Things or any of its original characters.**

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The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and the light summer breeze was rustling the leaves, causing the woods to look like green waves against the clear blue sky. It was mid-June in Hawkins, and surely every kid was outside enjoying the beautiful summer day. Some were probably riding their bikes, some were probably playing frisbee with their friends in the park, some were maybe even having a picnic.

But not El.

The closest that Eleven Hopper was to the gorgeous weather outside was the remnants of the breeze that blew through her window which was cracked open just a few inches. She inhaled as the breeze crossed her skin, closing her eyes and appreciating the smell of summer. El decided that summer just had its own smell. It smelled like flowers, even though Hopper didn't have any flowers planted around the cabin, and it smelled like grass and sunshine. El knew sunshine itself didn't really have a smell, but to her, that's how summer smelled.

And she was cooped up in this small cabin every day of it. Well, almost every day. Hopper let her leave maybe once every couple of weeks, and even then, she had a strict curfew to follow. El had recently convinced him to let her accompany her friends to Dustin's house in two weeks when they would be surprising him with a welcome home party on the day he was to return from Camp Know Where. Needless to say, El spent the overwhelming majority of her days inside, just like the first year Hopper had let her live with him.

Well, maybe not exactly like that year… After all, this time she wasn't as big of a secret. El was allowed to take phone calls from her friends, and Hopper did let her go hang out with them on occasion. But the main thing keeping her sane these days was currently seated cross-legged across from her on her bed.

Ever since the Snow Ball, Mike had made it a point to see El every single day. Part of him still couldn't believe that she was really back, let alone that she was really his girlfriend, and some days when he was riding his bike to Hopper's cabin, Mike felt a tight panic in his chest that this somehow wasn't real; that he would arrive at Hopper's door and be greeted by the confused look of the town's gruff police chief, wondering why this boy was on his porch because El had never returned. Of course, this never happened. Mike was always greeted by his smiling girlfriend throwing the door open and jumping into his arms as soon as he reached the top step of the porch.

In the beginning, Mike would only stop by for about thirty minutes. Hopper was still concerned with El's safety, and having unessential visitors to the cabin put both El and the visitors at risk. Although, as time went on, Hopper let Mike stay a little longer. Thirty minutes became an hour, which became two hours, which became the afternoon, and now Mike spent practically his entire days at the cabin with El. Hopper was less than thrilled about this, but he knew it made El happy, and he honestly did feel bad about leaving her all by herself while he was at work. Hopper knew Mike feared him enough not to try anything with El right now, especially under Hopper's roof. But Hopper wasn't appreciating how mouthy the kid was becoming toward him.

One day a couple months ago, Hopper had walked into El's room and dropped a stack of textbooks on Mike's lap.

"What's this?" Mike had asked, looking up at the chief with a confused expression.

"If you're gonna be spending every day here, you might as well do something useful," Hopper had grunted in response. "Doc Owens was able to help me get El into Hawkins High this fall."

Both teenagers instantly perked up, eyes widened and smiles on their faces. El squealed in delight at the idea of starting high school with her friends and being around other kids her age, learning new things, making more friends, and seeing something other than the walls of this cabin.

"Really?" she had asked, thinking this news was almost too good to be true.

"Really, kid," Hopper had replied, his tone softened by the smile on El's face. "I knew how much it would mean to you, so I made it happen."

"Thank you!" El had exclaimed, jumping from her bed and wrapping Hopper into a tight embrace. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"You're welcome," Hopper had smiled, squeezing her tightly.

When El pulled back, Hopper cleared his throat and turned back to Mike, his regular demeanor restored.

"That's where you come in," he had begun. "With the amount of time I spend at the station, I won't have time to properly prepare her for school. So, if you want to continue to be over here every day, I need you to help El get caught up. I guess I'm asking you to be her tutor on this stuff. Think you can do that?"

"Definitely," Mike had answered immediately.

El and Mike had thanked Hopper once more, and Hopper had left the two of them alone, demanding that they start the tutoring first thing the next day.

Now that a couple months had passed, the initial excitement had worn off. El was still thrilled about the idea of starting school with her friends, but the fun in learning new things was always clouded by the problems and exercises she had to solve. She liked listening to Mike talk and explain things to her, but she didn't like doing the schoolwork. So, she always found a way to divert his attention and initiate a makeout session every so often. But Mike always seemed to stop it after a few minutes and redirect her focus to their lesson, much to El's dismay.

Today, El was particularly disinterested, and Mike knew it. He looked up from the open English textbook in his lap to see El gazing longingly out the open window.

"El," he said, and El did not respond. "El!"

"Sorry," El sighed, turning back and frowning at the book he was holding.

"Come on, the quicker you get through this, the sooner we'll be done," Mike said logically. "Just try to focus."

"Can't we take a break?" El suggested.

"We just took an Eggo break forty-five minutes ago," Mike replied.

"Can we take a different kind of break?" El smirked, her eyes quickly flicking down to his lips and back up to his eyes.

"Umm," Mike blushed. "N-no-"

"No?!" El repeated, taken aback.

"I mean, not no-"

"So then yes?"

"No," Mike repeated firmly. "But not 'no' as in I don't want to. 'No' as in not right now."

"But, Mike, I'm so bored," El whined, falling backward onto her pillows. "And my head hurts from all that stupid math."

"Well, we're done with math now. We're doing English next. You like English," Mike tried to encourage her.

"Ughhhh," El let out a long groan as she sat back up to face him. "Why are you so stubborn with this?"

"El, Hopper said-"

"Hopper's not here," she grinned.

"No, but he will be, and when he gets here, he's going to want to check and make sure we got through the lesson for today," Mike said.

El rolled her eyes. A few weeks ago, Hopper suspected that El and Mike may not be actually studying quite as much as Hopper wanted them to. He knew that El starting school that fall was important to both of them, but he also knew they were still hormonal teenagers spending hours upon hours together. So, to make sure they got through an appropriate amount of schoolwork, Hopper assigned portions from each textbook for Mike to cover with El on a daily basis.

"What's today's lesson on?" El asked reluctantly.

"Parts of speech," Mike replied, looking at the unit in the textbook that Hopper had bookmarked.

"Stupid," El muttered under her breath.

"Come on, El, it's easy," Mike said.

"But why do I have to know what the parts of speech are? As long as I can speak, why does it matter? No one is going to ask me to identify verbs and adject… adject…" her brow furrowed.

"Adjectives," Mike offered. "And identifying adjectives is exactly what I'm about to ask you to do."

"Mike, I _know_ what an adj-ect-ive is," El sighed, still struggling with the word. "But fine, if you insist… You are very _cute_. I think kissing you is _fun_. You not wanting to kiss me makes me _sad_."

"Well," Mike said before clearing his throat, the blush deepening on his cheeks. "Those, uh… those were all adjectives."

"See, I'm not stupid," El insisted.

Mike met her gaze, the blush on his cheeks quickly disappearing, and his eyes softened. El quickly looked away.

"El, hey, look at me," Mike said gently, reaching for one of her hands. El looked up at him. "No one thinks you're stupid. I think you're really smart. But if you want to be ready to start school this fall, you just have to get through this stuff so you're on pace with the rest of the class."

El let out a long sigh, followed by a nod, showing her surrender.

"But, I guess I could try to make it a little more fun for you," Mike said coyly after a moment.

"How?" El asked, perking up in interest.

"How about we make it into a game," Mike suggested. "Each time you answer correctly, we can kiss for one second. So, if you answer two correctly in a row, we can kiss for two seconds. Five in a row, five seconds. Does that sound okay?"

"Yes," El replied, nodding vigorously.

"Okay," Mike smiled. "So, they start easy and get harder as they go on. First, identify the adjectives in this sentence: The rusty truck has an oversized trailer."

"Rusty and oversized," El answered quickly, already grinning because she knew she was correct.

Mike leaned forward, and his lips met hers. He pulled back a moment later and was met with a pout from El.

"I don't think that was a full second," she stated.

"Seconds are fast, El," Mike chuckled. "Identify the verb phrase in this sentence: The tennis player is going to hit the ball."

"Is going to hit," El responded, and Mike nodded.

Mike leaned forward again, connecting their lips, and counting to two in his head. It was a little harder this time, but he pulled away and glanced back down at the book. There were ten of these sentences in this exercise, and after the first two, Mike was already wondering if he would be able to keep himself on track after all.

"Okay," he sighed. "Identify the nouns: Yesterday was the hottest day of the year."

"Hmm… day and year," El said confidently. Mike was still looking at her expectantly. "And… yesterday?"

"Good job," Mike smiled. "Three seconds."

This time, El quickly pressed her lips to his, gripping a handful of his hair as well. After (slowly) counting to three in his head, Mike gently leaned away, and El sat back and waited for the next question. Mike had to admit, she was doing a good job, and he had never seen her this excited to do English work before. The game was working, as long as he could keep it together.

"You remember pronouns?" Mike asked, and El nodded. "Identify the pronouns in this sentence: Although she lives next door, I rarely see her."

El cocked her head to the left and repeated the sentence in her head.

"She… I… her," she said thoughtfully.

"Great job, El," Mike answered, preparing mentally for their four-second kiss.

Their lips met, and Mike kept count in his head. After counting to two, he was startled when he felt El gently graze her tongue across his bottom lip for the remaining two seconds. When he pulled back, El let her hand trace slowly from its place in his hair down his jaw as she sat back.

"Um, okay," he shook his head and cleared his throat. "Identify the adverb in this sentence: The fire spread rapidly throughout the building."

"Rapidly," El answered immediately, a wide grin on her face. She could tell this game was wearing Mike down with each right answer.

She leaned in to kiss him, instantly pressing her tongue between his lips, and Mike almost lost count on his way to five.

Somehow, Mike was able to stick to the rules of the game he created as El answered correctly questions six, seven, and eight. Each kiss was longer and more passionate than the last, and Mike was torn between being proud of her for answering so many questions correctly, trying to maintain the self-discipline to stick to it, and wanting to throw the rules away and lose himself in the feel of her soft lips. Finally, Mike looked down at the book in his lap and saw that they were on question nine.

"Okay, two more," he sighed. "Then, we're going to need to take a break."

El giggled and waited patiently for her next question.

"Identify the nouns and pronouns," Mike read. "Volleyball is a fun sport, and I like to play it."

"The nouns are volleyball and sport. The pronouns are I and it," El answered.

"Perfect," Mike replied.

He took a deep breath and leaned in to meet her halfway. For nine seconds, their lips moved against each other's, their tongues meshed in each other's mouths, and El's hands wove through Mike's soft hair. He reached the number nine in his head and started to pull back as El began nibbling on his bottom lip. Mike stifled a groan and ended the kiss, opening his eyes to see a mischievous smirk on El's face.

"Last, uh… last question," Mike said, out of breath. He looked at the remaining question and frowned slightly, hoping it wouldn't be too hard and discourage her. "This one's kind of hard, so take your time. Identify all the nouns, pronouns, verbs, and adverbs in this sentence: He told us to talk quietly in the library."

El scrunched up her forehead and thought about the sentence, deciding to take it one word at a time. 

"He… pronoun. Told… verb. Us… pronoun," she began, Mike nodding along with each correct answer. "Talk… verb. Quietly… adverb. Library… noun." El smiled, looking genuinely pleased with herself, and Mike leaned forward to give her a quick peck on the lips.

"See, you're so smart," he said softly against her lips. "And your English work wasn't that bad, was it?"

"I liked the extra motivation," El smiled, wrapping her arms around Mike's neck. "And I'm ready for my kiss for solving the last question."

Mike moved to connect their lips once again, but El stopped him with a finger on his mouth and a smirk on her face.

"But only for ten seconds. Those are the rules," she teased with a shrug.

"Screw the rules," Mike murmured before crashing his lips into hers.

All of the pent-up desire that had been building over the course of their game came rushing to the surface, and El's tongue was granted access into Mike's mouth immediately. Her hands both caressed the sides of his face until finding their spot in his soft hair, and Mike gripped El's waist with both of his.

A soft moan escaped El's throat as she raised up on her knees and leaned forward, laying Mike on his back and resting chest-to-chest without breaking their kiss. She felt as Mike's hands gently traced up and down her back, and she sighed into his mouth when he tangled a hand in her wavy hair.

El grasped the collar of Mike's shirt and rolled to the side, expecting to pull him on top of her, but not realizing how close to the edge of the bed they were. She broke their kiss with a shriek as she tumbled onto the floor, Mike landing on top of her.

"Oh my god! Are you okay?" Mike exclaimed, pushing himself up on his elbows and looking down at El beneath him.

El's eyes were widened in shock as she looked over at her bed, her top sheet hanging off the side due to their fall. She looked back up at Mike who was still waiting for her response with concern plastered all over his face, and El began to laugh. Mike let out a sigh of relief and let out a chuckle at their situation. Soon, they were both in a fit of laughter, Mike still on top of El as her body shook in laughs beneath him.

As El started to calm down, Mike brushed her hair away from her face and gazed down at her. Her cheeks were red and tear-stained from laughing so hard, she was panting and out of breath, her lips were swollen from kissing, and her hair was a tangled mess sprawled on the floor around her head.

"You are so beautiful," he whispered.

As Mike leaned down for another kiss, the unmistakable sound of gravel, sticks, and leaves crunching under the four tires of a rumbling blazer wafted through El's open window. Mike groaned, knowing that meant their time was up. El smiled up at him and pulled him down for one more sweet kiss on the lips before pushing upward on his shoulders.

"Quick, help me fix the bed," El said, scrambling to toss the sheet back to its normal position.

Mike stood and straightened the comforter on her bed while El smoothed down her hair. They plopped onto El's bed side-by-side, leaning their backs against the wall, and Mike opened El's science textbook, the next subject they were supposed to tackle today.

They heard the front door open and Hopper's heavy footsteps on the wooden floor.

"Kids, I'm ho-" Hopper's voice stopped as he undoubtedly saw El's closed bedroom door. "How many times do I have to tell you."

The heavy footsteps quickened in pace, and suddenly El's bedroom door was whipped open to reveal Hopper.

"Three inches!" he growled.

Mike and El jumped and snapped their heads in Hopper's direction.

"S-sorry!" El said hurriedly. "We stopped for some Eggos about an hour ago, and I must've just pushed the door a little too hard."

"Uh huh," Hopper grunted, his frame filling the doorway as his narrowed eyes landed on Mike. "How many of the lessons did you get through today?"

"We're just starting the last one right now," Mike replied, holding up her science book.

"Yeah. We did math, and then English. I finished my English lesson early, so Mike even threw in some French," El said casually.

Mike stifled a groan. Why did he openly antagonize Hopper on a daily basis? Clearly it was rubbing off on El. Mike risked glancing at Hopper's face to see the chief's narrowed eyes shooting death glares straight through him.

"French, huh?" Hopper repeated. "I don't remember getting you a French textbook… You know some French, do ya, Wheeler?"

_Shit_. Mike could feel the heat creeping up the back of his neck, and he knew his face probably had guilt written all over it. So he said the only thing he could muster.

"Oui."

Hopper held his gaze, maintaining his stern expression for a moment before chuckling and muttering "smartass" under his breath. Mike exhaled a sigh of relief; Hopper wasn't going to kill him.

"Stick to the textbooks," Hopper instructed. "And keep the door open three inches."

Hopper turned and headed toward his bedroom to change out of his uniform, and Mike turned to face El who was trying so hard to avoid bursting into laughter that her face was beet red.

"That wasn't funny!" Mike hissed, and El couldn't hold back anymore.

Mike watched her, trying to appear disapproving, but melting very quickly at how happy his girlfriend looked. He sighed and shook his head and flipped her science textbook to the page that Hopper had bookmarked.

"You heard what he said. Let's finish your lesson," Mike said.

"Just a second," El said.

She reached one hand to Mike's cheek and turned his face toward hers, planting one more kiss on his lips.

"Now let's finish the lesson," she smiled.

Mike chuckled and took one of El's hands in his, stroking circles on her palm while she laid her head on his shoulder and followed along in the science textbook. El still didn't love wasting her summer doing schoolwork, but if Mike was willing to keep making learning fun for her, she sure couldn't complain.

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**A/N: I hope you all enjoyed this one! It was fun to write, and I think it turned out pretty cute. Thanks again to UnoPeso22 for the idea! Please remember to leave me a review.**


	6. Valentine's Day

**A/N: Welcome back. Thank you for your patience in between these installments. This is an idea that came to me that I really hope you enjoy reading. Please remember to review!**

**UnoPeso22: Thank you. I am very glad you liked how it turned out! I hope you enjoy this one too.**

**OdoMango: I'm glad you liked it so much! And including Hopper was fun, so I had to do it again haha. I hope you like this one.**

**Shrike176: Thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed it. I really like doing these little one-shots, so I'm glad you like reading them.**

**Ejbeckmann: Haha, I'm glad you appreciated that part.**

**Disneyprincess315: Thank you! I'm glad you liked it, and I agree, Mike and El are perfect together.**

**Afanofstrangerthingsandstuff: Thank you!**

**Setting: February 1985, four and a half months before the events of season 3.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Stranger Things or any of its original characters.**

**0-0-0**

"Dad, I need your help," came Eleven's voice as she entered the living room from her bedroom wringing her hands.

Hopper sighed and closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose. He knew he needed to have patience; after all, she was a teenage girl and nearly everything was new to her. Hopper normally had no problem with this. Until Wheeler told her what Valentine's Day was earlier in the week.

"With what?" Hopper asked slowly, looking up at El from his place in his recliner.

"Valentine's Day is tomorrow, and I'm supposed to get him something," El said exasperated as if she had explained this to her dad multiple times for the past several days… because she had.

"El, for the last time, Wheeler isn't stupid. He knows your situation. I'm sure he's not expecting anything for Valentine's Day," Hopper said before muttering under his breath, "He better not be, anyway."

"Well, he got me something, so I want to get him something," El insisted.

Hopper sighed again. This would've been so much easier if Wheeler had kept his mouth shut about Valentine's Day and just shown up on the fourteenth with chocolates or whatever he got for her.

"You are a boy. What do boys even want for Valentine's Day?" El asked when Hopper did not speak.

He widened his eyes and cleared his throat, knowing _exactly_ what teenage boys want for Valentine's Day. Hopper reminded himself that even though Mike was a moody teenager who was becoming mouthier by the minute, he was overall a good kid who did genuinely care about Eleven and wouldn't try to use this stupid holiday to cross any lines with her. When Hopper looked into El's big, pleading hazel eyes, he softened, knowing that she genuinely cared about Mike just as much.

"It's not necessarily about what boys want or what girls want. If you get someone something at all, it should be something that will be special to that person," Hopper relented.

El nodded, thinking over his words. Her eyebrows raised as she perked up.

"Will you take me shopping?" she asked, and Hopper felt sadness pooling in his chest because he would have to crush her excitement. El must have known what was coming because she rapidly continued, "I-I can put my hair up and wear a hat and sunglasses-"

"Kid," Hopper said softly. "You know I would love to be able to take you out."

Maybe not out shopping for Wheeler, but that's beside the point.

"But it's still not safe," he continued. "I made an exception for that school dance, and that was only two months ago. It's too soon, and I know you understand that."

El sighed, looking utterly defeated, and Hopper winced at the sting of her disappointment.

"Then what should I do?" she asked.

"You could make him something," Hopper suggested.

"_Make_ him something?" El repeated.

"Yeah," Hopper nodded. "The most heartfelt things usually don't come from a store."

He stood and grabbed his hat from the coffee table. El watched as Hopper came closer to her and ruffled her hair as he passed her on his way to the front door.

"You'll think of something. Don't stress over it too much, kid. You know Wheeler will love whatever you give him," Hopper said, offering her a reassuring smile. "I'll be at the station and won't be home until later tonight."

After telling her dad goodbye and making sure the door was locked, El looked at the clock. 12:15. Mike would still be at school for another three hours, which meant El had just over three hours to get started.

She hurried back to her bedroom and pulled open the drawers of her dresser and nightstand. El rummaged through them, not knowing exactly what she was looking for, but hoping some amount of creativity would strike her. She sat on her knees in front of her nightstand and looked around her room, her eyes locking on her closet. El hurried over to her closet and looked at the shelf above her hanging clothes. There was mainly boxes of stuff that Hopper ran out of room to store in other locations in the cabin, but there was one plastic tote that El pulled down. It was the tote filled with stacks and stacks of colored construction paper. She lugged it over to her bedside and got back onto her knees to peek under the bed and pull out the craft box that she had put together with the help of Joyce and Will. It was full of crayons, markers, colored pencils, scissors, glue, stencils, paint, and glitter. El had not put it to use much, as she knew she wasn't quite as artistically gifted as Will, but Joyce and Will had both ensured her that she would get better with time and that it doesn't matter how good she is at art as long as she has a fun way to express herself and create new things.

El pulled some paper out of the tote from her closet and looked at the supplies in front of her. She now had plenty of things to work with, but what could she make with it? El began absentmindedly doodling on a piece of paper, waiting for inspiration to strike, when it suddenly did.

Her eyes widened as she sat up straight, sifting through the stacks of paper to find colors that she knew Mike liked. She then looked through the stencils and pulled out any that could help with what she had in mind.

El glanced at the clock on her nightstand. 12:40. She now had less than three hours to work on it before Mike arrived and she would have to put it away and finish it tomorrow while he was at school.

She quickly dove in, cutting, drawing, tracing, and not paying any attention to the time on the clock. When she heard the special knock, El was startled and jumped to look at her clock and saw that it was 3:30. She looked down at her mess and her incomplete present for Mike, and El quickly shoved everything into the plastic tote and moved it back to the top shelf of her closet with her mind while she kicked her own craft box back underneath her bed.

After making sure she hadn't left anything laying out, El hurried through the living room and tilted her head to the side to unlock and open the door.

"Hi," Mike said with a big smile on his face.

El bounced onto her tiptoes to wrap her arms around his neck and pulled him into a tight hug while Mike chuckled at her enthusiastic greeting. Of course, he hugged her back. El loved how tall Mike had gotten in just the last two months because now when she hugged him like this, her feet nearly left the floor, causing her to be nearly swept completely up by him.

"Hi," she replied, pulling back just enough to look up into his dark eyes. "How was school?"

"It was okay," Mike sighed. "Long, boring. I just wanted to see you."

"I wanted to see you, too. I miss you when you're not here," El said, and although they have been seeing each other every day, Mike felt the same way.

"I missed you, too," he smiled and leaned his forehead against hers.

El tilted her head up to connect her lips with his, and after a moment, she pulled back with a wide grin on her face that matched her boyfriend's.

"That definitely makes my day a lot better," Mike said.

El giggled and pulled him by the hand further into the living room. Since Hopper was at work, they were free to use the television to watch whatever they wanted.

"What do you want to do today?" El asked.

"It doesn't matter as long as I get to spend time with you," Mike replied with a shrug. "We can put on a movie and cuddle, I can make you Eggos, I can read you some more of those comic books I broke over."

El considered her options. The comic books were fun to look at, and she loved learning more about the things that Mike was interested in. Plus, she could listen to his voice when he read to her forever. But they could do that in her room when Hopper was overtaking the living room. She figured they should take advantage of their alone time while they had the chance.

"Cuddling on the couch with a movie sounds nice," she said. "And also Eggos."

Mike laughed at El's addition to her decision and walked to the kitchen to grab the Eggos out of the freezer. She watched as he popped two of the frozen waffles into the toaster and then turned to face her.

"Any toppings, or just plain?" he asked.

"Maple syrup, please," El asked sweetly.

"You got it," Mike said and pulled the syrup out of the cupboard.

He placed the two Eggos on a plate and drizzled maple syrup over them before handing El the plate and a fork. She then led him over to the couch and let him choose the movie. Mike chose _Footloose_. It was a movie he knew El enjoyed, and since it only came out last year, he wasn't sick of it yet.

Mike joined El on the couch and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her closely to him. She finished eating her Eggos, even lifting her fork to share a couple bites with Mike, and placed her dish on the coffee table before cuddling closer into him.

They watched the movie, stealing a few maple syrup-flavored kisses throughout the length, and by the end of it, they had shifted to where Mike was laying on his side with his back against the back of the couch with El curled perfectly against his body while he spooned her. Neither of them cared enough to eject the movie and turn off the television, opting instead to let the credits roll and the static take over while they continued to enjoy each other's company.

El closed her eyes and let out a content sigh as Mike nuzzled softly into her hair. She pulled his arm tighter around herself and thought to herself that she would be perfectly happy just doing this all of Valentine's Day. Well, she would be perfectly happy doing this all of _every_ day.

El wasn't sure how much time had actually passed, but it seemed like hardly any time had passed at all before Mike was gently shaking her awake. She hadn't even realized she had fallen asleep, but as El blinked her eyes into focus, she noticed the darkening cabin, now only partially illuminated by the beams from the setting sun outside.

"I have to go home," Mike whispered sleepily into her ear from behind her.

El sighed sadly. She hated when Mike had to leave, but she nodded and reluctantly sat up on the couch. Mike sat up to face her and smiled at the combination of sadness and sleepiness on his girlfriend's face. There was a pout on her lips and drowsiness in her eyes that made Mike want to say screw his curfew and just wrap El up in his arms and never leave her. He leaned forward and kissed her forehead, turning her pout into a small smile.

"That's better," Mike said.

They walked hand-in-hand to the front door of the cabin, and Mike placed his hands on El's hips when he leaned down to kiss her.

"I'll see you tomorrow," he said after pulling back.

"Tomorrow," El repeated, nodding.

"Good night, El," Mike smiled.

"Good night, Mike," El replied.

She closed and locked the door behind him. El finally felt fully awake, which was a good thing because she still had quite a way to go on Mike's Valentine's Day present. She hurried back to her bedroom and within seconds she was surrounded by her crafting supplies again.

El worked on Mike's gift well into the night. She didn't know what time it was when she put the finishing touches on it, but as she leaned back against her nightstand to admire her hard work, her body finally succumbed to her sleepiness, and her room peacefully slipped away from her.

An hour later, Hopper quietly turned the key in the lock of the front door, careful not to make too much noise because El should be asleep by now. He stepped into the living room and grunted when he saw that her bedroom light was still on. He closed and locked the door, grumbling something about obeying bedtimes, and walked across the living room to her bedroom, ready to tell her to go to bed. But when he pushed the cracked door all the way open, he chuckled at what he saw.

El was sound asleep, curled up on the floor in front of her nightstand. The floor around her was covered in craft supplies and scraps, and her hand was clutching what appeared to be a homemade book.

Hopper walked quietly into her bedroom and squatted down next to El. He worked one arm under her knees and the other around her shoulders, and he lifted her from the floor onto her bed. El began to stir at the movement, and Hopper thought she was about to wake up, but El simply rolled over and her eyelids stopped fluttering. He chuckled and pulled El's bedspread up to cover her body. As Hopper was about to leave, he glanced down at the floor and saw what El's hand had been holding when he came in.

He picked it up and flipped through it, not even noticing as a smile crept across his face. She took his idea of making something for Valentine's Day, and Hopper knew he was right and that Wheeler would love this. He laid the present on El's nightstand before piling her craft supplies back into their boxes and walking to her bedroom door.

"Night, kid," Hopper whispered as he turned off the light and went to prepare himself for bed.

The next morning, Hopper awoke El with a special Valentine's Day triple decker Eggo extravaganza. The whipped cream was in the shape of a heart, and the sprinkles were red and pink hearts. He left for the station after breakfast, reminding El that he would be home around dinner time.

El spent the day trying to distract herself by watching her favorite soaps on the television. When that didn't work, she put _Return of the Jedi_ into the VCR. It was her favorite of the Star Wars movies, but not even the cute little ewoks could keep her attention. Her eyes kept glancing toward the clock, watching as it slowly crept closer to 3pm.

Finally, she heard the knock, and El sat up on her knees on the couch, facing the door, and used her powers to unlock and open the door. Mike was a little confused that El wasn't right at the door, but he came inside and walked over the couch, immediately planting a kiss on her lips.

"Happy Valentine's Day," he said softly when he pulled back, and El smiled brightly. Mike's eyes drifted to the VHS box on the coffee table, and his mouth dropped open in surprise. "You were watching Star Wars without me?!"

"I was here by myself all day, and I was bored. I thought it would help since it's such a _long_ movie," El teased.

"A _long_ movie that you insist on watching once a week," Mike quipped back.

"I like the ewoks," El shrugged. "But I'm glad you're finally here. I missed you."

"I missed you, too," Mike said and leaned down to kiss her once more.

When he pulled back, Mike glanced around the cabin in search of Hopper. Hopper's blazer had not been parked outside, but Mike couldn't take any chances.

"He's at work," El said, answering Mike's unasked question. "He won't be home until dinnertime."

"Good, because I want to give you your Valentine's Day present," Mike said.

He walked over to the counter where he had placed his backpack when he entered, and El watched him with an excited expression. Mike unzipped his backpack and pulled out a red gift bag which he carried with him back to the couch.

"This is for you," he said, placing the bag on El's lap.

El looked from Mike down to the gift bag, her smile uncontainable, and she tossed the tissue paper away. She reached into the bag and pulled out a white teddy bear. El immediately wanted to hug the bear, but she was stopped by what it was holding. Between the bear's paws rested a polaroid of Mike from a few months ago, wearing the Ghostbusters costume she had seen him wearing in the void one day. She giggled as she pulled the photo away from the teddy bear and inspected it closer.

"It's kind of an embarrassing picture, but I thought you would like it," Mike explained. "Especially now that you've seen the movie and can appreciate that costume."

"It's not embarrassing. It's cute. I love it," El smiled and hugged the teddy bear tightly with her other arm. "And I love the bear, too."

"Really?" Mike asked. "I'm glad you like it. There's also a card in the bag that you can read later. I wish I could've gotten you more, but-"

"Mike," El interrupted gently. "I love it. Really. Thank you."

Mike let out a sigh of relief. He knew El would've appreciated anything, but that didn't stop him from wanting to give her the world, even though he couldn't currently afford to.

"You're welcome," he said. "Happy Valentine's Day."

Mike kissed her forehead and leaned back against the couch, draping his arm around her shoulders.

"So what do you want to do today?" he asked.

El didn't answer right away, and he looked down to see a light blush starting to color her cheeks.

"I have something for you, too," El said softly.

Mike raised his eyebrows in surprise. She got him something for Valentine's Day? When did she do that? _How_ did she do that? Did Hopper really let her leave the cabin to get him a Valentine's Day present? Did she sneak off to do it while Hopper was at work? But where would she have gotten the money? Oh god, did she have _Hopper_ buy him something for Valentine's Day?

While Mike's mind was racing with questions, El walked to her bedroom and came back holding what looked like a homemade book made of construction paper. She shyly handed it to him before taking a seat on the couch and holding the bear tightly to her chest, nuzzling her nose into the top of its head while she watched Mike study what she had handed him.

Mike looked down at what El had given him and noticed immediately that, yes, it was a homemade book. But also, there was an unmistakable drawing of him and El on the front of it. He opened the book and flipped through each page. Every page was covered in a detailed drawing. Some images were drawn with straight edges as if traced from a stencil, while others were freehanded. It didn't take long for Mike to realize that this book was their story.

The first page showed a dark, gloomy scene of a thunderstorm in a woods. Then a boy with a raincoat shining a flashlight on a soaking wet little girl with a big yellow t-shirt and a buzzcut. The next page showed the girl wearing the boy's coat and walking next to him in the storm while he walked his bike. As Mike continued to flip through it, he saw pages of the little girl in gray sweatpants and a navy blue sweatshirt, the boy and girl crouched under a blanket fort with the boy pointing toward a tattoo on the girl's forearm that read 011, the boy and girl laughing together as the girl laid back in a recliner.

Mike swallowed down the lump that was forming in his throat as he flipped through some more pages. He saw the girl wearing a pink dress and blonde wig. There was a page dedicated to the boy floating next to a cliff, and the next page was the boy and girl hugging on that cliff. A few pages later, Mike let out a chuckle at the drawing of the boy kissing the girl at a round table that he knew was in the middle school cafeteria.

The next several pages made Mike's heart ache. He flipped through the girl standing between the boy and a tall, black creature, her arm outstretched. There was a page that showed the girl sitting and wearing a blindfold and the boy sitting in the blanket fort with a walkie, and the number 353 colored across the top of the page.

Mike flipped through some more pages until reaching one with the girl dressed in black clothes standing in a doorway, face-to-face with the boy. The next page showed the girl dressed all in black hugging the boy tightly.

Mike let out a shaky breath and blinked back tears that began to form at the thought of that reunion that had taken place only a couple months before. The final page showed the boy dressed up in black pants and a tan jacket and the girl wearing a gray dress with pink polka dots and a pink ribbon, their arms around each other as if they were dancing, sharing another kiss.

He closed the book, completely stunned by what he had just looked through. His mouth was hanging open in shock, and he could feel El's eyes still watching him, waiting for any type of response.

"Do you like it?" El asked timidly. "I know it's not much…"

"Not much?" Mike repeated, astonished. "El, it's… it's perfect."

"Promise?" she asked.

"Of course I promise," Mike assured her. "El, this is _our_ story… Did you draw all of that by yourself?"

"Yes," El nodded. "I know books are supposed to have words, but… I am not very good at writing yet."

She looked down, her cheeks red, as if she were embarrassed by this.

"It doesn't need words," Mike said quickly. "I can read this story perfectly with these drawings."

"You can?" El asked.

"Yeah!" Mike assured her. "I'm a storyteller, right? That's my job when I play D&D."

El laughed and set the teddy bear aside, feeling happy that Mike liked the present so much. She leaned toward him and connected their lips, weaving her fingers into his soft dark hair.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Mike," she said softly when they pulled back.

"Happy Valentine's Day, El," Mike replied gently.

El glanced down at the book she had made that was resting in Mike's lap. She bit her bottom lip, thinking about how Mike had said he could read this story with just the drawings and make up his own words.

"What is it?" Mike asked softly, and El looked up to meet his eyes.

"Will you read it to me?" she asked.

Mike smiled and kissed her forehead.

"Of course," he said.

El grabbed her new teddy bear and held it tightly against her chest while she snuggled into Mike's side. Mike wrapped one arm around El's shoulders and used his other hand to turn through each page. El immediately found herself captivated by Mike's retelling of the story that they both knew so well. The story that started with fear and uncertainty and was filled with friendship and promises.

Their story.

**0-0-0**

**A/N: I hope you all enjoyed this one. I have two more that I'm going to be posting within the next couple of days, so be on the lookout for those. Let me know what you thought by leaving a review, and as always, thank you for reading!**


	7. Just a Dream

**A/N: This idea popped into my head a couple days ago. It's a completely different route than the first six of these have been, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless. Please leave me a review and tell me what you think.**

**NoDownSide: I agree. Of course I loved all three seasons, but seasons 1 and 2 have a completely different feel than season 3. And even though season 2 had the least Mileven screen time, the balance between the kids and the supernatural was spot on.**

**Song-wei: Thank you. I hope all is well. I'm glad you enjoyed it.**

**Shrike176: Thank you. I'm glad you liked it. I think casual little moments are some of the cutest interactions.**

**The Mandalorian Terminator: Thank you. I'm glad that you loved so much of it!**

**Niko: I'm glad you liked the gift!**

**OdoMango: I'm glad you are liking it so far! I feel like one-shots allow me to focus on little moments like that, so I definitely enjoy writing them. I hope you like this one.**

**Ejbeckmann: Thank you. I'm glad you liked it. And about the feels… what can I say lol. I think there will be more in this chapter as well, so sorry in advance : )**

**Stranger Records: I enjoy writing Valentine's Day. It gives me an excuse to be extra fluffy. I'm glad you liked it.**

**UnoPeso22: Thank you. I'm so happy to hear you think it feels like the characters right out of the show. I wish we could've actually seen a Mileven Valentine's Day as well. Hopefully we get either a Mileven Valentine's Day or a Mileven Christmas in season 4. The fans deserve it. And I agree about Hopper. Obviously, he wasn't overly thrilled about Mike being there all the time, but he is the only boy Hopper would have trusted with El.**

**Disneyprincess315: I'm glad you liked the fluff! Of course Mike will keep it forever and probably tell the story to their kids someday : )**

**Setting: July 1995, ten years after the events of season 3.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Stranger Things or any of its original characters.**

**0-0-0**

_El looked frantically around the blackness surrounding her. Was this the void? It had been so long since she had been in the void… She looked down at her feet to see they were dry. If this was not the void, where was she? Why was everything so dark?_

_The crackle of thunder startled El, and she jumped, spinning around in hopes of seeing someone, anyone… But she was alone._

_El strained her eyes, trying to see something other than the infinite blackness. That's when she heard the footsteps._

_Those footsteps were all too familiar, though she had not heard them in years. They still had the same effect on her; El's body completely froze as a slow chill trickled down her spine. Her wide eyes stared straight ahead unblinking, and her ears perked up, listening to those footsteps that she used to hear on a daily basis. They sounded just like they did in the hallways of the lab._

"_Eleven," said the voice that made El's skin crawl._

_Before her appeared the tall, slender man with white hair and black, soulless eyes. El could feel her heart pounding in her chest as Brenner came within inches of her. He reached toward her left arm, and El tried instinctively to pull away, but she found that she was unable to move. Brenner gingerly lifted her left arm and inspected her forearm, running his thumb over the 011 tattoo._

"_You had such strong power… so promising," Brenner said calmly, more to himself than to El. He shifted his eyes to meet hers. "What a waste."_

_Brenner released El's arm and let it drop to her side, a sneer on his thin lips._

"_Thankfully, you've provided us a replacement," Brenner continued._

_Another crackle of thunder, and the blackness around them flashed brightly with lightning. When the blinding light went away, El found herself and Brenner standing in the hallway of the house El lives in with Mike and their four-year-old daughter Cassie._

"_Don't you dare hurt them," El spat, glaring all the hatred she has felt for Brenner over her 24 years of life into the man's body._

"_I would never hurt her," Brenner said softly. "And he didn't suffer much."_

_El noticed Brenner's eyes flicker down the hallway toward the master bedroom, and El turned her head to see the door standing ajar. Another crackle of thunder, and the bedroom was illuminated by a flash of lightning. A strangled scream was ripped from El's throat at what she saw._

_Mike's lifeless body lay on the floor covered in so much blood that El couldn't even see where it was coming from._

"_Mike!" she screamed._

_Her vision blurred as tears began streaming down her face, but El started running down the hallway toward their bedroom. The closer she got, the longer the hallway seemed to stretch._

"_You'll never get there," Brenner's voice taunted her. "Even if you did, you couldn't save him."_

_El kept running. The pounding of her heart and the sting in her lungs caused her chest to hurt dreadfully, but El had to get to him._

_Suddenly, the hallway stopped stretching, and El was about to reach their bedroom when the door slammed shut in her face._

"_No!" she screamed and threw her body against the door, turning the doorknob, desperate to open it. "Let me in! Let me in! I need to help him!"_

"_There is nothing you can do for him, Eleven," Brenner's voice returned to her ears, causing the hair on her arms and the back of her neck to stand up._

"_You bastard," El whispered venomously._

_She turned to face him, and her stomach sank at what she saw. Brenner was standing in the middle of the hallway holding Cassie on his hip._

"_C-Cassie," El croaked out._

_She lunged forward, reaching out for her daughter, but Brenner took a step backward and watched as El fell onto her hands and knees._

"_Get your hands off my daughter!" El screamed up at the source of her childhood trauma. "Give me my baby and leave me alone!"_

"_You owe me this, Eleven. All the time I put in to raising you, all the potential you had… gone. But now, well…" Brenner looked almost lovingly at the little girl he was holding, and he brushed Cassie's black hair over her shoulder. "Hopefully this little girl doesn't fail me like her mama did."_

_Brenner turned from El and walked, carrying Cassie, down the hallway. El tried to stand up to chase after him, but she could not move her legs. She wiped her tearstained cheeks while she sat on the floor, her body shaking in sobs at her helplessness._

"_Cassie!" she screamed so loud she thought her vocal cords were sure to be destroyed. "Cassie!"_

"_El! El!" El started to hear Mike's voice calling her name in the distance. "El… El wake up!"_

_She felt something grasping her shoulders, and El swatted her hands around herself, trying to break free of whatever invisible hold was on her._

"NO!" El screamed and shoved Mike away from her. "Get away from me!"

"El! El, stop! It's me," Mike said urgently.

El stopped flailing her arms and looked around at her surroundings, her heart pounding as she panted heavily. She was at home, in her bedroom, laying in her bed with her husband sitting next to her.

"It's okay, baby. You're okay," Mike said softly, reaching out to pull El closer to him.

She let him wrap his arms around her, and El raised her fingers up to his face to make sure he was real. She traced her fingers over his cheekbones and down his jaw and placed her other hand in his soft hair.

"M-Mike," she choked out before breaking into sobs.

"Shh, it's okay," Mike whispered into her hair while she clung to his t-shirt and her body shook with sobs. "It's okay, baby. I'm right here… I've got you… You're safe."

As the feeling of Mike's embrace began to calm her down, a feeling of dread pooled in El's stomach. Her eyes shot wide open, and she sat bolt upright, pulling away from her husband.

"C-C-Cassie… Cassie. Where's Cassie?" she demanded.

"El, she's asleep. She's sleeping in her bedroom down the hall," Mike said quickly, grabbing both of El's hands in his.

"Are you sure?" El asked urgently.

"Of course I'm sure," Mike replied.

"No, are you positive? Do you know she's there? Have you checked on her?" El demanded, her voicing rising in hysterics as tears began to stream down her face.

"El. El, baby, calm down," Mike said gently. "I promise you, Cassie is okay. You had a nightmare."

Mike watched as El tried to make herself believe his words. It broke his heart to see the terror on her face, but he waited patiently and began to feel relieved when he saw his wife's face start to soften.

"It was so real," El whispered.

She leaned forward, resting her head on Mike's shoulder as he wrapped his arms tightly around her.

"I know, baby, but it's over now," he soothed her, rubbing her back gently.

"I-it was… P-Papa," El said just above a whisper. She felt Mike stiffen, but he continued holding her and rubbing her back. "He k-killed you."

Mike squeezed her tighter and kissed the top of her head. El sniffed and wiped her eyes before taking a deep breath and continuing.

"And th-then… he t-took Cassie," she squeaked out as more tears spilled out of her eyes. "He t-took her because I f-failed him."

"You didn't fail anyone, baby, and it wasn't real. He's dead," Mike murmured, rocking her gently and stroking her hair.

"I f-failed him because I lost my p-powers," El said. "He s-said Cassie is m-my replacement."

"You didn't fail anyone," Mike repeated. "Cassie and I are both safe, and nothing is ever going to happen to her. I wouldn't let anything happen to her, and I know damn well that you wouldn't either."

"You don't understand, Mike," El said, sitting back and looking up at him. "What if he isn't dead, after all? When I was in Chicago-"

"El, that was eleven years ago," Mike interjected.

"So? He could still be alive, Mike, and what if he is?" El asked, her big hazel eyes filling again with tears. "What if he knew I lost my powers all those years ago and he has been keeping an eye on me? What if he saw Cassie, and he knows she has powers of her own? What if this was his way of telling me he's coming for her?"

"El," Mike said firmly, taking both of her hands and looking her square in the eyes. "El, I promise you, it was just a dream… just a bad dream. You've got to trust me, baby."

El stared into his eyes for a long time, and all she saw looking back at her was the love he had for her and the strength he held when she had her moments of weakness. She felt her walls crumbling down, and El let out a sob as she collapsed against Mike's chest and he wrapped his arms around her.

"I'm sorry," she sobbed into him. "I'm s-sorry, M-Mike… It was j-just so real, and I was s-so scared."

"I know," Mike soothed her. "You don't have anything to be sorry about. It was just a nightmare."

"W-why?" she mumbled.

"Why what, baby?" Mike asked softly.

El pulled back and looked up at him, her eyes red and puffy from crying and her cheeks stained with her tears.

"I h-haven't had a nightmare in s-so long… why now?" she pleaded for an explanation, and it pained Mike that he couldn't give her one. The last time El had woken up screaming from a nightmare was when she was pregnant with Cassie.

"I don't know," Mike answered softly. He looked at the clock on their nightstand, and his stomach sank when he saw the date above the time which read just a little after two in the morning. "It's July fourth… You lost your powers ten years ago today… Maybe, subconsciously… I don't know…"

El nodded and bit her bottom lip. She knew what he was trying to say. Her dream was about being a failure and not being able to save her family because of the loss of her powers. Of course it couldn't be a coincidence that she had the dream on the ten-year anniversary of losing her powers.

"Will it ever stop?" she asked timidly. "Will I ever _not_ have these nightmares anymore?"

"I don't know," Mike repeated, feeling helpless. "I wish I could tell you the nightmares will stop, but…"

"But I'm going to keep having them for the rest of my life, aren't I?" El finished softly. "Even if they happen years apart."

Mike guided El's head back to his shoulder and hugged her tightly.

"Maybe. There's no way to know," he admitted. "But I know that I'll always be here to get you through every single one of them."

El sniffed and let a small smile cross her lips at her husband's words. She raised her head to say something, but she was interrupted by the sound of a soft, timid voice coming from their open doorway.

"Mommy?"

Mike and El both turned quickly to see their four-year-old daughter standing just outside their doorway, her hazel eyes filled with confusion.

"Cassie, what are you doing up?" Mike asked softly, and Cassie took a couple steps forward into their bedroom.

"Heard Mommy crying," she said softly. "Couldn't go back to sleep."

"Mommy's okay, now, sweetie," Mike said. "Why don't you go back to bed, and I'll come tuck you in again."

"Okay, Daddy," Cassie said and began to turn around before El stopped her.

"Cassie, wait," she called sweetly.

The little girl turned back to face her mother, and El's heart swelled as she looked at her daughter. Cassie's big hazel eyes were a mirror of El's own, and they were the only thing that the little girl inherited from her… other than the powers that were starting to make their appearance from time to time, causing Mike and El to acknowledge that they would have to explore this with their daughter some day in the coming future.

"Come here, baby," El requested, holding her arms out in front of herself for her daughter to crawl into.

Cassie crossed the room and climbed up onto her parents' bed and onto her mother's lap. El wiped her cheeks dry and looked down at the bundle of innocence looking up at her.

"Why you crying, Mommy?" Cassie asked sweetly.

"Mommy just had a bad dream, sweetie," El replied.

Cassie nodded her understanding and looked back and forth between Mike and El.

"I have bad dreams sometimes," she said. "Sleeping between you and Daddy makes me feel better… Would sleeping between me and Daddy make you feel better?"

El's words caught in her throat and she choked back tears at her daughter's innocent suggestion. As tears brimmed her eyes again, all El could do was nod.

"I think that's a great idea, sweetheart," Mike answered for his wife and kissed his daughter on top of her messy black hair.

A smile covered Cassie's thin face, and El beamed at the spitting image of her husband who crawled across her legs to the other side of the bed. Mike planted a kiss to El's temple as the three of them laid down in the bed together.

El snuggled against Mike who held her firmly from behind, and she smiled at the little girl staring up at her.

"Good night, Cassie. I love you," she said softly.

"Love you too, Mommy," Cassie said quietly.

El watched as her daughter's eyes drooped until they closed, and it didn't take long before the little girl's breathing slowed as she fell asleep. Behind her, El could feel the steady rise and fall of her husband's chest with each peaceful breath he took. El certainly hoped the nightmares would come to an end, but if this love is what she would get to wake up to every day, she knew she would be okay.

**0-0-0**

**A/N: If you guys liked seeing adult Mileven, I can do some more of that in future installments. Just let me know! Thanks for reading, and don't forget to review.**


	8. Nobody But You

**A/N: Thank you all for your feedback on the last one-shot! I was wondering how it would go over, given that it was so different from all the other installments, but I was definitely happy that you seemed to enjoy it. I will absolutely write some more one-shots featuring adult Mileven for this collection. This one, however, was inspired by UnoPeso22 who messaged me with an idea for a jealousy storyline. I hope you all enjoy it!**

**Guest: I'm glad you liked adult Mileven, and I will definitely include them again!**

**Shrike176: I'm so glad you enjoyed it. And I will definitely write more focusing on them in their adult years.**

**Ejbeckmann: Thank you! Don't worry, I think this one gives your feels a little bit of a break lol.**

**IgNighted: Thank you so much.**

**Andy: Thank you. I'm glad you are enjoying it.**

**UnoPeso22: I agree, El's trauma will likely follow her around for life. I'm glad you liked the nightmare and their daughter. I hope you like this one as well!**

**Afanofstrangerthingsandstuff: Thank you. I hope Eleven gets her powers back in season 4 as well! And my next fic is coming soon, I promise!**

**Disneyprincess315: Sadly, I agree, that trauma will be with them forever. But like you said, they have each other. I'm glad you enjoyed their daughter as well!**

**Mikeleven83: Thank you! I hope you like this one as well.**

**Setting: March 1986, five months after the Byers family and El move away to Illinois. El's powers have returned.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Stranger Things or any of its original characters.**

**0-0-0**

Mike could hardly contain his excitement. It was the Thursday before spring break, which meant he only had to get through one more day of school before El was coming to visit for a whole week. Will's spring break week at his new high school in Illinois didn't coincide with Hawkins High's, so he wouldn't be joining El this time. Mike was sad he wouldn't be seeing his best friend, but he was also excited to be spending a whole week with just El who he hadn't seen since Christmas break when she and Will had both come and stayed for two weeks.

He couldn't wait to see her again, and his mind was racing with all the things they could do together. The mid-March weather was warming up, so they didn't have to be confined to the house. Not that there was anything wrong with staying in, hanging out in the basement, just the two of them. They could turn off the lights and put on a movie, cuddle up close together, maybe mess around a little bit… Mike shifted in his seat as he thought back to Christmas break. Their relationship had taken a big step forward physically, and while he and El talked about it and both agreed they aren't ready to go all the way, they were both enjoying exploring all the other things they could do.

"Mike? Mike!" Mike was jerked out of his thoughts by his partner's voice.

He looked across the table to where Stacey was staring at him with her eyebrows raised, clearly annoyed that he had zoned out and not heard what she had been saying.

"Sorry, Stacey," Mike muttered, glancing down at the work between them.

Mike and Stacey had been partnered up by their biology teacher to dissect a frog earlier that afternoon. Their report was due in class tomorrow, so they agreed to meet in the library after school to finish it up.

"Whatever. I was just saying I think we're done," Stacey said, popping a piece of gum into her mouth as she started piling her books into her backpack.

Mike picked up the section that Stacey had been working on and skimmed through it, finding it hard to really focus on the material in front of him. Luckily, he knew that even though she didn't show it, Stacey was actually intelligent, and Mike was sure her work was done well.

"Okay, great. It looks good," he said, handing it back to her before packing up his own books.

Mike and Stacey left the library and walked toward the parking lot. While Mike was retrieving his bike from the bike rack, he watched as Stacey stood at the curb looking up and down the street for her ride that clearly had not shown up. Mike was about to head home, but he sighed knowing that he couldn't just leave her.

"Do you have a ride home?" he asked.

"My brother is supposed to pick me up, but he's not always the most reliable," Stacey admitted, looking down at the ground. Mike almost felt bad for her until she looked up again, her normal prissy expression returned to her face. "Why?"

"Well I didn't want to just leave you here by yourself, so I was going to offer to wait with you or take you home," Mike explained.

"You didn't want to leave me by myself? Tell me, Mike, how exactly were you going to protect me from all the big bad dangers that Hawkins has to offer?" Stacey mocked him, crossing her arms over her chest.

"You know what? Forget it. I was just trying to be nice. Have a good night, Stacey," Mike said as he started to pedal away from her.

Stacey looked up and down the street one more time and saw no sign of her brother. She really didn't want to walk all the way home…

"Mike, wait!" she called after him.

Mike hung his head in annoyance but turned around and stopped his bike in front of her. He raised his eyebrows and waited for her to speak. Stacey was biting the insides of her cheeks, clearly torn on what to say. She had a reputation to uphold, and being seen on the back of Mike Wheeler's bike certainly would not help her. On the other hand, she knew he actually was a nice guy who doesn't deserve the shit he gets at school… plus, him taking her home meant not having to walk.

"I'm sorry, okay?" Stacey said, not meeting Mike's eyes. "Could you just take me home? I don't think my brother is coming."

Stacey stood with her arms crossed looking down at the ground, and Mike thought she looked ashamed, though he didn't know if she was ashamed for acting like such a bitch or for giving in and letting him help her. Truthfully, it didn't make much of a difference to Mike.

"Sure. Hop on," he said.

Mike moved forward, and Stacey adjusted herself behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist to steady herself, and then they were off.

Two hundred miles away in Illinois, El was excitedly packing her suitcase for her week at Mike's house. The plan was for El and Joyce to leave their house at noon the next day so El would arrive at the Wheelers' house shortly after Mike got home from school. Joyce would pick El up the following Sunday. Nine whole days with Mike. El still couldn't believe Joyce and Mrs. Wheeler agreed to it.

She was rummaging through the clothes hanging in her closet, trying to pick out a variety to bring with her. March in Indiana was hard to plan for, so El found herself stuffing pants, shorts, dresses, and sweaters into her suitcase.

When she opened her dresser drawers, El paused as she looked down at her undergarments selection. The last time she and Mike were together, they took a step that El had not been intending to take, but she ended up being happy that they did. Mike saw her topless for the first time, and El had thought his eyes were literally going to pop out of his head. She was only wearing a simple white bra at the time, not having expected for anything to happen. El knew Mike didn't really care about what she was wearing, but that didn't stop El from wanting to look good for him.

Last month, El had told Joyce that she needed new bras because she was starting to outgrow her current ones. With Joyce's work schedule along with El's insistence for more independence, they agreed that Joyce would measure El's bra size and would then drop El and Will off at the mall with some money on her way to work. Will could browse the game store while El was selecting her new bras, and then the two of them could ride the city bus home together. El's plan had worked perfectly, and that's how she found herself looking at two unworn push-up bras in her dresser drawer. One was baby pink with lace covering the cups, and the other was black, low-cut, and silky.

She looked over her shoulder as if to ensure she was alone in her room, and El pulled both bras out and shoved them into her suitcase. She added her regular daily bras as well and tossed in nine days' worth of panties and socks as well before zipping her suitcase shut.

El looked at the clock and saw it was 3:45pm. She wished so hard that it could just be tomorrow so she could go see Mike. The thought of jumping into his arms and letting him spin her around and kiss her was giving her butterflies because she knew in just twenty-four hours it would be a reality. If only she didn't have to wait twenty-four hours.

Just then, an idea struck El that had not come to her for quite some time. She supposed paying him a quick visit in the void couldn't hurt. He was probably just as excited for tomorrow as she was. Maybe he was cleaning his room or straightening up the basement and getting a stack of VHS tapes ready for them to play in the background while getting lost in each other. Or maybe he was restructuring their blanket fort to give them more room to be in it together since he won't seem to stop growing. Whatever he was doing, El was certain he was doing it with that adorable smile on his face in preparation for her arrival.

She grabbed her blindfold and turned on her radio, tuning it until only static filled the room. Moments later, she was focusing on locating her boyfriend, and soon, she started hearing noise in the distance. Before she knew it, El was standing on a sidewalk. She was sure she was in Hawkins, but she was on a street she had never seen before. El turned and saw a beautiful two-story white house with a yard that looked like it was professionally landscaped. What is this place?

Then, she started to feel Mike. He was getting closer. El looked down the street in front of her and saw the familiar sight of Mike riding his bike. Her heart warmed and a smile crossed her face as he got closer to her each passing second.

But then, El noticed that he wasn't alone. Big, curly brown hair was billowing out from just over his shoulder, and El saw a pair of hands clasped together around his waist. El's smile was quickly replaced by a frown, and her heart felt ice cold as she watched this girl holding on to him the way that El always held on to him.

Mike brought his bike to a stop in front of the big white house, and the girl finally let go of him and climbed off his bike.

"Thanks, Mike," she said with a smile that El wanted to wipe right off her face.

"No problem. See you tomorrow," Mike replied.

He waved her goodbye before heading off down the road, presumably toward his own house. El didn't follow.

She ripped the blindfold off and was back in her bedroom. Her heart was pounding, she was panting, and her face was beet red. Who was that girl? Why was she getting so up close and personal with Mike? Why would Mike be seeing her tomorrow?

"Hey, El," Will's voice came from the hallway right outside her closed door, and El snapped her head toward it, being pulled out of her thoughts. "Mom will be home in an hour and wants us to have dinner started. Wanna come help?"

"Um, sure. I'll be right out," El replied.

She stood from the floor and folded her blindfold with shaky hands. As she laid the blindfold down, she looked at herself in the mirror on top of her dresser and tried to reason with herself.

Mike loves you, she told herself. Mike loves you and only you, and you get to see him tomorrow, and everything will be perfect.

But still, who was that girl? And why was he with her? And why was she touching him? Does he like her? You haven't seen him in over two months. Maybe he met someone new and plans to end things with you when you get to Hawkins.

No. El pushed those thoughts out of her head.

Mike isn't like that, she told herself. Whoever that girl is, she is just a friend.

But didn't you start out as a friend, too?

"El!" Will's voice called again from the hall as he knocked on her door, startling El and making her jump.

"Coming!" she called back.

She looked herself in the mirror again and decided she was being stupid. Of course she had nothing to worry about, right?

As El helped Will start dinner, she could not hide the fact that something was bothering her. Will watched as she harshly chopped the vegetables and started to wonder if it was safe for her to have a knife at the moment.

El briskly carried the vegetables over to the stove and sighed in annoyance when she looked at the pan.

"Oil," she demanded, and Will hurried to splash some oil in the pan.

El dumped the vegetables and tossed the cutting board into the sink. Will's eyes widened at the deep marks she had left from chopping the vegetables so hard. He watched as she unboxed the spaghetti and snapped the noodles in half before tossing them into the pot of water and throwing the box toward the trash can.

"El, are you, um, okay?" Will asked gently. El let out a long sigh before turning to face him.

"Who is the girl with the curly brown hair?" she asked. "She is pretty and… I think… I think I might remember her."

She scrunched her forehead as she realized the girl's face was becoming familiar.

"I think I remember her from that day when Max and I went to the mall," El continued. "She was mean. She is our age."

"Are you talking about a girl from Hawkins?" Will asked, and El nodded. "A mean, pretty girl our age with curly brown hair?" El nodded again.

Will thought back to his old school. It wasn't exactly like there was only one girl who fit that vague description. Not many girls had been particularly nice to him, after all.

"I guess there are a few that it could be, but the first one who comes to mind is Stacey Albright," Will replied. "Why?"

"Just curious," El shrugged and diverted her eyes.

"El," Will said seriously. "Friends don't lie."

"Fine," she sighed. "I'm worried that Mike might like her."

"What?! Mike can't stand her," Will said.

"Well then why was he with her?" El asked before she could stop herself.

Will cocked his head to the side and looked at her questioningly. She knew she was busted. El took a deep breath before admitting what she had done.

"I missed him, so I went into the void just to see him for a few minutes," she began. "And I saw him with _her_. She was on the back of his bike with her arms around him."

"Was that all?" Will asked after a moment when El remained silent.

"Does there need to be more?" El asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"It sounds like he was probably giving her a ride home from school," Will said.

"But why? You said he can't stand her," El reminded him.

"I don't know," Will shrugged. "But don't worry about this. You know Mike loves you and would never cheat on you."

"Yeah… you're right," El agreed.

"So just let it go. You don't want it to ruin your week together, and you don't want to look like a jealous girlfriend who spies on her boyfriend with her superpowers and gets mad over a few minutes completely taken out of context," Will said.

El laughed; it did sound pretty ridiculous.

"You're right. Thanks, Will," she smiled.

The next day, Joyce was driving El to Hawkins, and El was replaying her conversation with Will in her head.

_You know Mike loves you… You don't want to look like a jealous girlfriend…_

She had decided that she was going to try and let go of what she saw. After all, she wasn't supposed to see it anyway, so how could she even bring it up to Mike without starting a fight? Will was right; Mike was probably just being nice and giving Stacey a ride home. That had to be it.

El let out a deep breath. She was sure she would feel better about everything when she got to Mike's house and finally saw him again for real. Being with him could make anything better.

A little after 3:30pm, they finally pulled into the Wheelers' driveway. The front door instantly opened, and Mike was at El's side before she was fully out of the car. He pulled her into a tight hug and kissed the side of her head.

"I'm so happy you're here," Mike whispered into El's ear, and the smile on El's face doubled in size.

Mike pulled back and turned to face Joyce who had removed El's suitcase from the trunk while Mike and El were greeting each other.

"Thanks for bringing her, Mrs. Byers," he said and gave the woman a hug.

"You're welcome, sweetie," Joyce smiled. "I'm assuming your mom has figured out sleeping arrangements?"

"Yes, Mrs. Byers," Mike replied, slightly blushing. "She said I'll sleep in my room and El will sleep in the basement. But if El would rather have my room, I'll sleep in the basement. It doesn't matter to me."

"Well, as long as one of you is in your room and the other is in the basement… and it stays that way _all_ night," Joyce said with a pointed look.

"Y-yeah, of course," Mike nodded.

"Good," Joyce grinned. "Well, I've got to head back."

"You don't want to come in for a little bit?" Mike offered.

"Thanks, sweetie, but it's such a long drive, and I don't want to get home too long after dark," Joyce said.

She gave both Mike and El another hug before telling them to have fun and be safe and that she would be back the following weekend to pick El up. After Joyce pulled away, Mike picked up El's suitcase and led her inside.

"So, do you want my room or the basement?" Mike asked when they reached the foyer.

"I'll take the basement," El answered.

Mike nodded, and the two of them started toward the basement door when Karen came out of the kitchen, her arms outstretched as she made a beeline toward El.

"Hi, honey! It's so good to see you again," Karen said as she pulled her son's girlfriend into a warm embrace.

Mike frowned, knowing that this was going to take away precious time from reuniting with El.

"It's great to see you, too, Mrs. Wheeler," El said as she pulled back from the woman's hug.

"How was the drive?" Karen asked politely, ignoring her son's impatient sigh.

"It was good, just long. Thank you for letting me stay a whole week," El said.

"Oh, of course, sweetie. We just love having you join us," Karen beamed.

"That's great, Mom. I'm sure you and El can catch up over dinner," Mike interjected quickly. "When is that, exactly?"

"Five o'clock," Karen replied.

"Cool," Mike said, reaching for El's hand as he looked at the clock and saw that they had just over an hour. "We'll see you at five, Mom."

"Leave the door cracked open!" Karen called after them as Mike pulled El away from her and down the stairs.

When they reached the bottom of the stairs, Mike let go of El's suitcase and let it fall to the floor beside them. He cupped her face in his hands and tilted her head upward to meet his lips right as they connected with hers. El smiled against his lips and parted hers to let Mike's tongue inside while she wrapped her arms around his waist.

"I missed you," Mike murmured against her lips after he pulled back.

"I missed you, too," El said.

Mike led El over to the couch and pulled her down next to him.

"We have about an hour to ourselves," he said suggestively.

El giggled and raised up on her knees beside him, wrapping her arms around his neck as she leaned in to kiss him again. Just as Mike was leaning backward to pull El down on top of him, he heard the sound of small footsteps at the top of the stairs. He quickly pulled away from El and sat upright at the opposite end of the couch as his little sister appeared, much to his dismay.

"Ellie's here!" Holly exclaimed.

"Hi Holly," El smiled as the girl ran down the remaining steps and jumped onto the middle cushion between Mike and El.

"Holly, what are you doing down here?" Mike asked.

"I wanted to say hi to Ellie, and Mommy said I have her permission to hang out with you guys as much as I want," Holly said, placing her hands on her hips as she spoke.

"Of course she did," Mike muttered as his little sister turned to face his girlfriend.

"Guess what?!" she exclaimed.

"What?!" El played along, her eye widening in anticipation, and Mike couldn't help but smile despite himself at how cute it was to see El interact with his little sister.

"I had a birthday party last weekend," Holly said.

"You did?! How old are you now?" El asked.

"I'm seven!" Holly replied, holding up seven fingers.

"Wow! Did you get everything you wanted at your party?" El asked.

"Uh huh!" Holly nodded her head vigorously. "Do you want to come to my room and see all my presents?"

El glanced over Holly's head at Mike and had to hold back a laugh at the look on his face as he was pleading her with his eyes to tell Holly no. El looked down at the little girl nearly bouncing in excitement, and she decided it would be easier to make things up to Mike than to Holly if she were to crush the little girl's hopes.

"I would love to," El smiled down at her, and Mike did not even try to hold back his frustrated sigh.

Holly hopped up and grabbed El's hand, pulling her toward the stairs.

"Girls only!" Holly called over her shoulder to Mike.

"I'll make it up to you," El smiled apologetically as she let Holly pull her up the stairs.

Mike shook his head and walked upstairs, turning the corner into the kitchen where his mother was starting dinner preparations.

"Thanks a lot," he grumbled as he leaned against the counter.

"For what, dear?" Karen asked as she ran the tomatoes under the running faucet before placing them on the cutting board.

"You know what you did," Mike said. "El wasn't even here fifteen minutes before you sent in Holly."

"You know how excited Holly has been for El to visit," Karen said. "Besides, you have a whole week with her. Don't be so dramatic, Michael."

Mike sighed but chose not to argue with his mother. He walked upstairs and decided to entertain himself by reading through one of his comic books until dinner was ready.

An hour later, Karen, Ted, Mike, El, Nancy, and Holly were all gathered around the dinner table. Holly had, of course, insisted on sitting next to El, and she was doing her best at hogging all of El's attention. Mike decided this was okay because after dinner, he planned on telling his family that he and El would be in the basement watching _Halloween_, and he knew that would keep his mom and Holly out.

El was enjoying herself. She adored Holly, and she found Karen quite easy to talk to. Karen didn't know the truth about El's identity or past, but she accepted that Joyce Byers took El in after Hopper passed away. It was not a hard sell for Karen to believe that Hopper had a long-lost child that showed up out of the blue, so she had not asked many questions when Mike told her about El after the "fire" at Starcourt.

Karen was very interested in how El was adjusting to the new home and how home-schooling was going. El did her best to answer Karen's questions without saying anything that could cause suspicion. Everything was going great. El felt welcomed and loved, and she had even forgotten all about what she had seen in the void. Until…

"Michael, I almost forgot to ask," Karen said, turning her attention to her son. "How did everything go with Stacey today?"

"It was great, actually. It couldn't have gone better," Mike replied.

They had turned their report in right away in biology class, and their teacher graded the reports while the class took the test they had today. By the time class was over, Mike and Stacey had received their report back with a perfect score.

Mike glanced at El and noticed her jaw looked tightly clenched and anger flashed in her hazel eyes. He reached down to rest his hand on her leg.

"Is something wrong?" he asked quietly.

El moved her leg away from his touch and looked down at her plate of food. He talked to his _mom_ about Stacey? And apparently he did see her today after all. What exactly was it that went so great? El found that she suddenly lost her appetite and politely laid her silverware and napkin on top of her plate.

"Ellie, do you want to come back upstairs with me? We can have a tea party with my new tea set," Holly suggested.

"Holly, El has hung out with you a lot today. She and I are going to go downstairs-" Mike was shocked when his girlfriend cut him off.

"A tea party sounds great, Holly," El said with a pointed look toward Mike.

"El," Mike gaped at her as she stood from the table.

He couldn't quite place the look on El's face as she turned to look at him for a moment before following Holly upstairs. Mike was left with his mouth hung open, completely confused at his girlfriend's sudden mood swing.

"What the hell did you do?" Nancy asked quietly when Holly and El were out of sight.

"I have no idea," Mike replied.

Mike went downstairs to play his Atari and wait for El to join him. He was so confused by what happened at dinner. He ran the dinner conversation through his head, trying to remember anything he could have said that she could have taken the wrong way, but he was coming up empty. He could not figure out what the hell happened.

Whatever it was, he hoped that El would be ready to talk about it when she came downstairs. After all, the time they had together was short enough, and Mike didn't want to lose any of it to silly arguments. He wanted everything with El to be okay. He wanted to curl up together, holding her in his arms, and kiss her and run his fingers through her soft hair and up and down her soft curves… But none of that could happen if she was mad at him about something.

Finally, 7:30pm rolled around, and Mike knew it was Holly's bath time. Sure enough, he heard the basement door open and close and then the sound of footsteps coming down. El looked right at him and then walked straight to her suitcase and began rummaging through it.

"Um… how was the tea party?" Mike asked.

El stood up and looked at him with a look that Mike was sure could kill.

"It couldn't have gone better," she said.

Mike furrowed his brow in confusion, and El rolled her eyes and walked to the bathroom carrying clothes to change in to.

When she came out of the bathroom, she was wearing a gray Hawkins PD t-shirt that fell to her thighs and almost hid the fact that she was wearing bottoms at all. But as she walked, Mike could see the bottom hem of a small pair of short cloth shorts poking out from under the t-shirt. Mike couldn't help but watch her lean legs as she walked across the room, and when she bent down to open her suitcase again, he felt his eyes bulge in his head as he stared at her ass. He started to feel guilty for eyeing her like this because he knew she was upset, but he couldn't help that she was also just so damn hot.

"Can I help you?" El asked impatiently. She turned to face Mike, having felt his eyes on her since the moment she exited the bathroom.

"Um, s-sorry. I, uh – I…" Mike sputtered. He took a deep breath and let it out. "Yeah, actually, you can. You can tell me what I did to upset you."

El let out an exasperated sigh and walked toward the blanket fort, shaking her head.

"El, wait," Mike said, standing from the couch to follow her.

"I'm going to bed," El said shortly as she crawled into the fort.

"It's 7:45," Mike said, kneeling in front of the opening of the blanket fort.

"Good night, Mike," El said, reaching up to let the remaining blanket fall down to close the opening to the fort.

Mike gaped at the fabric that was inches from his face. _What_ is going on?

"El, please talk to me," he said gently.

"Go away, Mike," El replied, and Mike felt his heart ache at the sound of her voice breaking.

"I'm not going anywhere," he said softly.

Mike heard El let out a shaky sigh, and he waited patiently outside the blanket fort. He was determined to not leave the side of this fort until he knew what was wrong, no matter how long it took. Suddenly, he heard the sound of El sniffling, and he knew she must be crying inside the blanket fort.

"El… will you please tell me what's wrong?" he asked softly. "If it's something I did, I want to know so I can try and fix it. Please, I hate it when you're upset."

Inside the blanket fort, El was having an internal debate. She suddenly couldn't get the picture of that bitch Stacey on the back of Mike's bike with her arms wrapped around him out of her head. It made El's stomach turn and her blood boil. On the other hand, El was here to visit Mike, and she knew how limited their time was. All she wanted to do was fall into her favorite place in the world, which was this blanket fort with him right next to her. But she was so angry… and hurt… and confused. She wanted someone to hold her and make her feel better. But the only person who could do that was Mike… but she was mad at him.

El let out a frustrated groan and a whispered "damn it." Mike held his breath as he heard her shuffling inside the fort. He hoped she was about to lift the blanket and let him in, and a moment later, his wish came true.

El lifted the blanket, and Mike crawled inside the fort and sat facing her. He was concerned by the tears he saw on El's cheeks, and he wanted to lean forward and pull her into his arms, but he knew she also didn't seem too happy with him.

"El?" he said tentatively.

"Do you like Stacey?" El asked quietly, not meeting his eyes.

"W-what?" Mike asked.

"Do you like Stacey?" El repeated firmly, looking up at him.

"Stacey? No! No, of course not," Mike insisted. "H-how do you even know about Stacey?"

"So there is something to know?" El asked.

"No, that's not what I meant," Mike said rapidly. "I just mean, how do you… oh, what my mom asked me at dinner?"

"Not just that," El whispered.

"Then what is it, El? Please," Mike asked again, scooting closer to her.

El took a deep breath. She knew if she wanted the truth, she would have to confess to what she did.

"I saw you with her," she whispered.

Mike scrunched his forehead in confusion.

"You saw me with her? What are you talking about?" he asked.

"Yesterday… in the void," El admitted.

There was silence as Mike racked his brain through yesterday's events. He saw Stacey a few times. In biology class, in the library, on the bike ride to her house. When had El seen them?

"I missed you, and I just couldn't wait until today to see you, so I looked for you," El continued. "When I found you, you were riding your bike… but _she_ was with you. She had her arms around you… touching you."

"El, Stacey is in my biology class, and our teacher paired us up to do a lab report together," Mike explained gently. "We went to the library after school, and when we left, her brother ditched her and she didn't have a way home."

"Can she not walk?" El asked bitterly.

"I didn't want to be mean," Mike said. "I just gave her a ride home. That was all."

"And the 'See you tomorrow'?" El asked.

"In biology class," Mike replied. "To turn in our assignment. That's what my mom was asking about at dinner. And we got an A, so that's why it went so well."

El nodded as she let this explanation sink in. She could feel the anger fading away, and she started feeling silly that she had even questioned Mike in the first place.

"I'm sorry, Mike," she said. "It's just that when I saw her with you… touching you… I just felt… I don't know…"

"Jealous?" Mike offered.

"Yeah," El admitted, nodding.

"I understand," Mike said softly.

"You do?" El asked.

"Absolutely," Mike replied. "If I saw some guy with his hands on you, I don't even know how I would react."

"We're just so far away from each other, and it made me worry that you found someone here in Hawkins that you liked and that you could see every day," El admitted meekly.

"El, it doesn't matter where you live or how often we get to see each other. You are the _only_ girl for me. I promise," Mike assured her, lifting his hand to cup her face and rub his thumb over her cheek.

"I love you, Mike," El said as she leaned further into his hand.

"I love you, too," Mike said. "But El, you've got to promise me you won't spy on me like this anymore. You've got to trust me."

"I do trust you," El said. "I just miss you so much when we're apart."

"I miss you too, more than I can explain," Mike agreed. "But we need to have some boundaries, and using your superpowers to spy on me is one of them."

"Okay," El laughed. "I promise I won't spy on you anymore."

"Thank you," Mike smiled. "So, are we okay?"

"Yes," El grinned, lifting her arms to wrap around his neck. "We're okay. I'm sorry that I thought you could like some other girl. I know you love me."

Mike placed his hands on her hips and leaned forward to kiss her lips.

"I do love you," he said when he pulled back. "Now why don't you let me show you how much."

El giggled as Mike laid her down and dove into her neck, peppering it with kisses while he entangled their fingers above her head. Her shirt rode up a bit, exposing a sliver of skin above the waistband of her shorts. As she felt Mike's hands against her bare stomach lifting her shirt, she quickly remembered her new undergarments she had packed specifically for this week that were both still tucked away in her suitcase.

"I have a few surprises for you this week," El whispered into Mike's ear.

Mike lifted his head so his face was hovering over hers, and his hands stopped moving her shirt upward.

"Oh really?" he asked.

"Mmhmm," El smirked. "I bought some new bras that I think you might like."

Mike nearly choked. He looked down to where his hands rested on her bare stomach just inches below her breasts, and he resisted the urge to yank her shirt right off.

"Well," he said before swallowing hard. "Are you wearing one of them right now?"

El shook her head, the smirk still on her face.

"I'm not wearing one _at all_ right now," she teased him.

El giggled at Mike whose eyes shot open wider than she had ever seen them. She felt his grip tighten on her sides, and since he was clearly frozen in place, El pulled his face down to hers to connect their lips.

"I love you," Mike whispered against her lips.

"I love you, too," El said, and she knew that no matter how much distance was between them or how many other girls Mike came in contact with, she would never question that love again.

**0-0-0**

**A/N: I hope you guys enjoyed this one. This is probably the last one I'll do for a little while until after I get the first one or two chapters of my next story uploaded. Please remember to leave a review and let me know what you thought!**


	9. The Miracle of Life

**A/N: Thank you all for being patient between these updates. With this one, I decided to go a little bit in a different route and make this a prequel to chapter 7. Adult Mileven received good feedback, and I wanted to develop their story a little more. So, I hope you enjoy this. Please remember to leave a review!**

**The Mandalorian Terminator: Thank you. Jealous El is fun! And I'm glad you enjoyed her interactions with Holly.**

**Ejbeckmann: Both of those would've been good! Glad you liked it. Hope you like this one too!**

**Disneyprincess315: I do think Mike and El really would handle their physical progression of their relationship maturely. And yes, jealousy can be ugly, but Mileven makes it through everything : )**

**UnoPeso22: I'm glad you liked it! I agree, I wish the Duffers would use their existing background characters for conflict or plots instead of adding slews of new characters that no one asked for (talking about you, season 4). I would also love to get to see El interact with the Wheeler family! Don't worry, this one-shot collection is still going to see regular updates even though I have another story going. I like the freedom this gives me to write a variety of stuff that comes to mind. I hope you like this one!**

**OdoMango: Glad you liked it! I can definitely explore post-season 3 Mileven more in coming chapters!**

**Shrike176: Thanks, I'm glad you liked it. I think it's important to show that while El still feels that jealousy we saw in season 2, her way of handling it matures with age. I'm glad you enjoyed the portrayals of Stacey and Holly, too. I hope you like this chapter as well.**

**Afanofstrangerthingsandstuff: I'm glad you liked it! I hope you enjoy this chapter just as much.**

**Setting: 1991, four years before the events of Chapter 7.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Stranger Things or any of its original characters.**

**0-0-0**

El laid the stick on the counter before pulling up her pants and flushing the toilet. She washed her hands and used all of her willpower to keep her eyes off the stick laying next to the sink. Three minutes. They needed to wait three minutes, and El knew she could not torture herself by watching that tiny screen in the meantime.

Mike came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist while she dried her hands. She turned around in his arms and looked up at him, and she saw the anticipation, hope, and fear staring back at her from his dark orbs. El offered him a small smile and caressed his cheek with her thumb, silently reminding him that everything would be okay no matter what. Mike kissed her forehead, and El laid her head against his chest, closing her eyes in a silent prayer that it would finally work out for them this time.

El had always known that Mike was the one for her. She was in love with him even before she knew the feelings she was experiencing had a word to describe them. And even then, "I love you" just didn't seem to capture how she truly felt about him. She had put her life on the line for him numerous times, and El knew she would do it again in a heartbeat. She would die for him, she would kill for him. The only sound that could calm her racing, panicked heart after waking up from a nightmare was Mike's voice. The one place she felt truly at home, at peace, and safe was wrapped in Mike's arms where she could lay forever just breathing him in. El had everything about Mike memorized from his eyes that she still got lost in, to his freckles that she had traced millions of times, to his smile that could stop her heart and brighten any day. She had completely given herself to him years ago, so when Mike asked her to marry him just two months after graduating high school, El had said yes before the question had fully left Mike's lips.

They still went to college, and Mike and El had a small wedding ceremony during Christmas break. Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler had thought getting married at eighteen years old was irresponsible, but Mike and El didn't care. They knew their love had endured enough over the years, and they wanted to start their life as one as soon as possible.

They were able to move into a one-bedroom apartment off-campus which they paid for with the part-time jobs they both worked while attending college. It was a hard adjustment, but even when there would be uncertainty about bills or work and class schedules conflicting, El knew this was where they were meant to be and that they would figure it all out together.

Over the next two years, things became less stressful. Mike and El both worked extra shifts during holiday and summer breaks from college, so during each semester, they knew they had a growing savings that they could pull from if they absolutely needed to in order to cover bills. Luckily, they had not needed to. They were both happy with their classes and their jobs and, most importantly, with each other. El didn't think she could ever want more than what they had.

Then one day, just under a year ago, she and Mike had gotten into a discussion about having children.

"Isn't nineteen too young?" El had asked.

Mike's face had fallen, and El had kissed him deeply, not wanting him to misunderstand.

"It isn't that I don't want to," she had clarified. "But we are still in school, and we only have part-time jobs. This apartment only has one bedroom, and babies are expensive."

"Those are the same types of excuses that will always be around, El," Mike had said gently. "A few years from now, it will be 'we just graduated and are starting our new jobs, and this place is too small, and babies are expensive.' Babies are always going to be expensive, and it's always going to seem like we aren't stable enough to have one."

"People will think we're crazy," El had chuckled.

"People always think we're crazy," Mike had laughed as well. "They thought we were crazy for getting married at eighteen, but we made that work. You would be such an amazing mom, and I am so ready to have a baby with you."

El couldn't lie and say she hadn't been thinking about having kids with Mike for years. Since they were fourteen, and El saw how well Mike interacted with his little sister Holly, she knew Mike would be an incredible dad. It was something that she had always dreamed would happen for them, and El thought it probably would happen at some point in their twenties, but as she laid there thinking about Mike's words, they really did make sense.

"You really think we could figure out how to raise a baby?" she had asked with a grin creeping across her face.

Mike had kissed the tip of her nose softly and took her hands in his.

"I know we could. We can figure anything out together," he had said.

El had wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his lips to hers while Mike wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her against himself.

"Then let's do it," she had panted when she pulled back.

"You mean…?" Mike had asked hesitantly. El had begun nodding vigorously.

"I mean it. Let's have a baby," she had confirmed against his lips.

El hadn't remembered seeing Mike's face light up with so much excitement since the day she had said yes when he asked her to marry him. Seeing that happiness was enough to make El know that they were making the right choice. Even though they were young, El knew any baby that she and Mike brought into the world would be met with nothing but love.

So, they had started trying to get pregnant. For the first couple of months, Mike and El were simply having sex and trusting nature to be on their side. When her periods kept coming as regularly scheduled, Mike had suggested that the two of them meet with El's gynecologist to talk about family planning and see what they could do to increase their chances of pregnancy.

The meeting with the gynecologist hadn't really made El feel any better. Her doctor had explained ovulation and when El would be most likely to become pregnant based on her menstruation cycle. She had also given El some basic suggestions such as reducing caffeine intake and maintaining a healthy diet.

"So, just keep doing what we're doing? Have a bunch of unprotected sex and wait to see what happens?" Mike asked.

"Basically, yes," Dr. Solomon had responded. "Most importantly, don't stress yourselves out over it. A lot of people don't get pregnant right away, and it takes some couples a year or longer before they are able to get pregnant."

"A _year_?" El had repeated.

"In some cases," Dr. Solomon had nodded. "But you are still so young. There is plenty of time for this to happen for you."

"And, if it doesn't happen for us?" El had asked quietly and Mike squeezed her hand.

"Well, there are tests we can run in the future to ensure that both of you are fertile. If problems persist, we can explore alternative options such as adoption or surrogacy," Dr. Solomon had explained gently.

When they had left the doctor's office that afternoon, El had been unusually quiet, and Mike must have suspected that the reality of the doctor's words was still sinking in.

"Are you okay?" he had asked gently, caressing the back of her hand while he drove them home.

"I just didn't think it would be this hard to have a baby," El had admitted.

"I know. Neither did I," Mike had agreed. "But like the doctor said, we shouldn't stress about it. You already live a pretty healthy lifestyle, and you honestly don't drink much caffeine at all. We'll just keep doing what we're doing and hope for the best."

"It doesn't bother you that we didn't get more of a definitive answer?" El had asked.

"It doesn't bother me that we just got doctor's orders to keep having unlimited unprotected sex," Mike had smirked in response.

El had rolled her eyes and playfully smacked him, but she was thankful that Mike was not only there to support her, but also make her laugh despite her fears and uncertainties. El tried telling herself that Mike and Dr. Solomon were right. It was just going to take time. She had nothing to worry about.

But, the months had kept passing, and El was no closer to being pregnant than she had been when they sat in Dr. Solomon's office. She had completely cut out caffeine, not even having a cup of coffee in the mornings anymore. She kept a daily planner in her nightstand to track her periods and ovulation so she could make sure that she and Mike had sex on the right days, in addition to all the other times they had sex throughout each month. To her disappointment, El's periods kept coming.

Two months ago, El really thought it was happening when her period didn't start on the day it was scheduled to. She wanted to wait a week before telling Mike that her period was late, just to ensure that it wasn't just delayed by a day or two. But, she wasn't able to keep the secret for more than a few days, and just three days after her missed period, she told Mike that she was late.

"You… you're late? So, does that mean…" Mike trailed off.

"I have to take a test to be sure," El smiled, though the hope and excitement shining in her husband's eyes and the smile he was unable to contain made her hope harder than ever that the test would be positive.

El took one of the pregnancy tests that she was keeping in a drawer beneath the sink in the bathroom, and she and Mike waited an excruciatingly long three minutes. When it was time, El picked up the stick from the counter and her face immediately fell when she saw the screen. She heard Mike's sad sigh behind her as he read the test over her shoulder, and tears began to fill her eyes.

Mike wrapped his arms around El from behind and kissed her temple. She turned to face him in his arms, and Mike was heartbroken to see the tears in her eyes. Maybe this was becoming too much stress for her. Before Mike was able to say anything, El had thrown her arms around his neck and buried her face in his t-shirt. Mike held her tightly and silently stroked his fingers through her hair.

"I'm sorry," El finally whispered.

"You have nothing to be sorry about. You can't control this," Mike said softly. "_I'm_ sorry for putting so much pressure on you. Let's just forget about ovulation days and no caffeine and whatever else, and let's just go back to normal and trust that it will happen when it's meant to happen. I don't want to see you stressed like this."

El pulled back and looked up at him, her eyes completely welled up with tears as one finally escaped. She bit her bottom lip, and Mike could see on her face that she was holding something back.

"What is it, baby?" he asked gently as he wiped the escaped tear from her cheek.

"What if… what if it's _me_?" El asked.

"What if what's you?" Mike asked, furrowing his brow.

"What if I'm the reason this isn't happening for us? What if I _can't_ have babies because of… because of…" El's voice broke as more tears spilled out. "What if they ruined me?"

The idea that she was made infertile at some point during the first twelve years of her life, either intentionally or as a side effect from something the bad men had done to her at the lab, had briefly flashed through El's mind several times throughout her life, but she had never given it much thought. It had started to creep back into her mind a few months ago, and the thought stayed longer and longer until it was always there.

Mike felt his stomach sink as El's words set in. She had never voiced this fear to him before. He swallowed down the lump that had formed in his throat.

"El, you're not ruined. You are perfect. There is nothing wrong with you," Mike insisted in a firm but sweet tone.

"But what if I can never have kids, and you married me not knowing that? You want kids, Mike, and what if you can't have them because of me?" El asked shakily. "What if you start to resent me or regret marrying me or-"

"El, we could keep trying forever and never get pregnant and I would never for a second regret marrying you," Mike interjected. "You're my whole world. You mean everything to me, and that will never change, especially over something you can't control. If we can't have our own kids, we can look into adoption."

"You would do that?" El asked, her eyes softening as she looked up at him.

"Of course I would. Hell, maybe we should look into adoption even if we are able to have our own kids," Mike said. "Hopper wasn't your biological dad, and you never felt like he loved you any less because of it, right?"

"Right," El agreed.

"The point is, no matter how many kids we have, and whether we have them biologically or through adoption or both, I will love them just the same because I'll be raising them with you. And I could never think less of you for not getting pregnant. Please don't ever think that I could regret anything about you," Mike said, resting his forehead against hers.

"Thank you," El choked out.

"Do you feel better?" Mike asked.

El nodded against him. She truly felt like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders and she could breathe easier. The fear of letting Mike down had been eating away at her each month that she started her period, and hearing his words dissolve her fears was like a breath of fresh air. With that fear, paired with the stress she was putting on herself to get pregnant, plus studying for midterm exams, El couldn't really feel surprised that her period was delayed a few days. She took a deep breath and let it go, happy to stop stressing and let whatever was meant to happen, happen.

"I love you," she said softly, her lips just inches from Mike's.

"I love you too," Mike said.

With his arms still around her waist, Mike pulled El closer to himself and kissed her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and melted completely into him, letting him guide her backward and lay her gently on their bed where she let him love her and comfort her and prove the meaning behind his words.

The next two months, El had felt more at ease than she had since the first time she and Mike had discussed having children. She was no longer tracking her ovulation days, and that daily planner had sat untouched in her nightstand for eight weeks. Midterm exams had gone well for both El and Mike, and for the first time in nearly a year, El felt no stress.

Since midterms were over, they were both working longer hours during their short break between semesters, so El was not surprised when she started feeling extra tired and sluggish. She had also written off her sudden aversion to the smell of tuna when she got a whiff of her coworker's lunch one day. After all, El had never particularly been a fan of tuna anyway, and her stomach had already been feeling a bit uneasy, so the instant nausea that was brought on by the smell was understandable.

When El had woken up that morning with sore breasts, she had even reminded herself that sometimes her breasts become extra tender during her period. But then El realized she wasn't on her period… come to think of it, when was the last time she even had a period? El's eyes had widened as all the signs suddenly came together.

She had told Mike carefully, not wanting to risk him getting too excited only to be let down again. El knew there was always the chance that this would be another false alarm, but at the same time, she just felt like this time was different than last time.

So, as she stood in their bathroom with her eyes closed and her head rested against Mike's chest as their arms were wrapped around each other, El's mind filled the three minutes by replaying their journey over the last year. She felt Mike kiss the top of her head and nudge her slightly, so she looked up at him.

"It's time," he said softly.

El nodded and offered another reassuring smile before turning and walking to the sink. She picked up the stick and turned around to face Mike before looking down at the screen.

Her eyes instantly doubled in size, and El leaned back against the sink for support. She raised her shaky hand to cover her mouth, and she blinked several times, hoping her eyes weren't playing tricks on her.

"What does it say, baby?" Mike asked, and El finally ripped her eyes away from the stick in her hand.

Wordlessly, she reached forward and placed the stick in Mike's hand and watched as he looked down at it.

Mike was certain his heart stopped. He heard El sniff and giggle, and when he looked up to meet her eyes, he saw tears were already spilling out of them.

"It's positive," he breathed.

"Uh huh," El nodded, her wide smile already starting to hurt her cheeks.

"We're having a baby?" Mike voice caught in his throat.

"We're having a baby!" El exclaimed.

She jumped forward, and Mike caught her and spun her around. He held her tightly and placed kiss after kiss on her lips, tasting the salt from the mixture of her tears and his.

"Holy shit," Mike said through a breathy laugh. "I can't believe it."

"I know," El beamed, placing a hand lovingly over her stomach.

Mike looked at her glowing face and wiped the tears from her cheeks before leaning in to kiss her deeply.

"I love you so much," he said when he pulled back.

"I love you more," El grinned and placed another peck on his lips.

Mike chuckled and kissed El's forehead before kneeling down so he was eye level with her flat stomach. His mind was running rampant with visions of El's stomach growing over the next nine months while their little one developed inside her. He smiled as more tears rolled down his cheeks, and he placed a hand next to El's hand on her stomach.

"And I already love you more than you could ever know," Mike said softly before placing a gentle kiss on El's stomach. "I can't wait to meet you."

El wove her fingers through Mike's hair and felt her heart swell at watching him talk to their unborn child. Mike stood up and pulled her close again to kiss the tip of her nose which made her giggle.

"I can't wait to have a baby with you," he said against her lips.

El smiled into their kiss and wrapped her arms around him. She was ecstatic. She was married to the most wonderful man in the world, and now she was carrying something within her that her heart was already overflowing with love for. El never knew she could love something so much without ever having seen it, but she knew that just like her love for Mike, she would do anything for this baby. Their baby.

**0-0-0**

**A/N: I hope you liked this one! Thanks for reading, and please leave a review to let me know what you think.**


	10. A Confusing Time For All

**A/N: Welcome back! As I said in OOTW chapter 5, I apologize for being gone for so long. It's been a rough time. But, I'm back with inspiration to write. That being said, three of you have reached out to me with story ideas (either one-shots or short stories), and I am going to get to them. I have a running list of your ideas and my own ideas, and I will get to them all. I'm happy to say that there is a wide variety of topics in that list, so thank you for that, as I like to give you guys a variety of content. Without further delay, here is the tenth installment! Please enjoy!**

**Phieillydinyia: Thank you! I'm glad. I hope you like this one too.**

**Shrike176: I agree about 18 and 19 being young for what they were doing. Since I already had one with a daughter in it, I kind of wanted to go keep it related to that, and since in that one they were only 24 and their daughter was 4 years old, I had to make them young when they had her. So, I went back and forth between doing them trying to purposely get pregnant, or accidentally getting pregnant at 19, and I just decided to go for it lol. I'm glad that you enjoyed it though! And thank you, I'm glad you like how I write the characters, especially aged up.**

**UnoPeso22: You make a lot of good points. One of the biggest things people think of when it comes to babies is how expensive they are, but that pretty quickly takes a backseat if you really want kids together. I'm glad you enjoyed it, and I completely agree Mike and El deserve a beautiful life together after all the supernatural stuff they've gone through.**

**Afanofstrangerthingsandstuff: Thank you. I try to let you know if one of these stories will divert from canon. I'm glad you like it!**

**Honeylove90: Thank you so much! I hope you like this one as well.**

**Setting: January 1985, just a few weeks after the Snow Ball and about 5-6 months before the events of season 3.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Stranger Things or any of its characters.**

**0-0-0**

"I'm leaving for work, kid. Want me to pick anything up on my way home?" Hopper filled the doorway and looked at the pitiful thirteen-year-old girl laying in her bed.

El did not speak a response, just sighed and shook her head. She was curled into the fetal position underneath her blankets, her knees pulled tightly to her chest. It seemed to be the only position she could lay in that provided any relief to her stomach.

"All right. There's soup in the fridge you can warm up for lunch, and those pills Joyce gave me for you are on the counter. Maybe you should take some before Wheeler gets here this afternoon," Hopper said, a touch of bitterness seeping in at the end.

Again, El nodded from her place in her bed. Hopper sighed and turned from her bedroom, crossing the living room to leave for work. This was day one of this month's week from Hell.

It happened the first time in November, just a couple short weeks after El had closed the gate and been reunited with her friends. Hopper would never forget the young girl walking out of the bathroom, her face as white as a ghost. His stomach had immediately sank, wondering what could have possibly happened.

"B-blood," El had quietly stammered.

It had taken everything Hopper had in him to stifle the groan in his throat. After he had assured El that she would be okay and that this was something normal that started happening around her age, Hopper had called Joyce Byers and asked her to meet him at Melvald's.

"Thirteen, Joyce. She's _thirteen_. Isn't she too young? Isn't this supposed to happen when you're older? Like sixteen?" Hopper had asked as he stood next to Joyce in the feminine hygiene aisle of Melvald's.

"It happens at different ages for all girls, Hop. There isn't a set age when periods start," Joyce had replied. "I got mine at thirteen, too. A friend of mine got hers at fourteen, another friend got hers at ten. It all depends on the person."

As Joyce spoke, she had pulled a package of pads from the shelf and walked into another aisle to pick up a bottle of Midol.

"This will help with the cramps and nausea and whatever other symptoms she might experience," Joyce had explained.

"You know the likelihood of getting her to take pills is extremely low, right?" Hopper had said, raising his eyebrows.

"So crush it up and put it in applesauce or something. Or have Mike explain that it's okay. You know she'll listen to anything he says," Joyce had suggested.

"Believe me, I am well aware," Hopper had muttered. "I can handle my daughter's first period without Wheeler's help."

"But not without mine," Joyce had teased, shoving the package of pads against Hopper's chest.

Hopper had let out a chuckle, taking the package into his hand and walking toward the cash register.

"How has that been going anyway? Her and Mike?" Joyce had asked, and Hopper couldn't help but roll his eyes.

"He's all she talks about. 'When can Mike come over?' 'When can I see Mike?' I gave Wheeler our phone number and told him he could call every other day," Hopper had explained. "But I haven't let him come over yet."

"Hop," Joyce had begun in a disappointing tone.

"I know, I know," Hopper had sighed. He paused while the cashier rang up the pads and Midol, and Hopper handed over the cash.

"Let me get through this week first, and then I'll see about letting Wheeler come see her," he had said as he and Joyce had left the store.

So, they got through the first one. And Hopper did let Mike come over. He let Mike come over once more about a week and a half before the Snow Ball. Then, El's second period struck the week before the Snow Ball.

"Happening again," El had said with a disgruntled look on her face when she came out of the bathroom.

"What's happening again, kid?" Hopper had asked.

"P-per-i-od," El had replied.

"Well yeah, kid, it happens once a month, remember?" Hopper had reminded her, and El had huffed.

"How long?" she had asked.

"Well, probably about forty more years," Hopper had replied, and El's eyes had widened.

"You're joking," she had stated.

"Sorry, kid, but I'm not," Hopper had said. "It's something you'll get used to-"

His words had been cut short by the long, frustrated groan that El had let out while she stomped toward her bedroom and slammed the door shut, leaving Hopper sitting in his recliner and chuckling at his situation.

Hopper hadn't let Mike come over during that week. Besides, Mike was going to see her at the Snow Ball anyway.

After the Snow Ball, El had announced to Hopper that Mike was now her boyfriend because he had asked her to be his girlfriend and she had said yes. Hopper didn't think he had ever sighed as heavily as he did in that moment.

Hopper was going to let Mike start coming over once a week. That quickly turned in to twice a week. Before Hopper knew it, Mike was at the cabin every day. While it kind of annoyed him, Hopper had to admit that it was the happiest he had ever seen El. So as long as Mike was careful not to get caught – and Hopper had reminded the kid numerous times to switch up his route every now and then – Hopper was willing to allow it.

Now, as Hopper crunched through the January snow toward his blazer, he grinned to himself at the idea of Mike experiencing El's period moods for the first time. The kid had no idea what he would be walking in to this afternoon.

Inside the cabin, El was trying to go back to sleep. She was holding her knees tightly to her chest, but it just wasn't helping. She grunted and rolled onto her back, stretching her legs out.

"Ah!" El cried out as she straightened out her body, her hand automatically going to her lower abdomen where the pain was coming from.

She let out a heavy sigh, knowing that trying to sleep was useless. El got out of bed and walked to her dresser, pulling out a clean pair of underwear, sweatpants, and a t-shirt. Joyce had said that hot baths could help with the pain. El had been hesitant to lay in the bathtub, but her cramps seemed worse this time than they had been the previous two months, so El was willing to try anything.

She adjusted the water to a temperature that would be comfortable and laid down in the tub, letting the water fill around her. El did her best to relax, and as she soaked in the bathtub she found that it did lessen the pain in her stomach.

After her bath, El made her way to the kitchen and picked up the bottle of Midol. She remembered when Hopper had first explained that the bottle had pills that would take the pain away during this time of the month. El had been skeptical and decided to just deal with the pain. It was only a few days, anyway. Last month, when her period had hit the week before the Snow Ball, her symptoms were a little stronger, and Joyce had come over and explained to El that she herself had taken Midol for years, and it was completely safe and harmless. Joyce had also told her that if she didn't want to swallow the pill whole, she could crush it up and put it in something to eat or drink.

El took the jar of applesauce out of the refrigerator and scooped a couple spoonfuls into a bowl. Then she used the back of the spoon to crush the little white pill and sprinkle it into her applesauce. El took a deep breath and ate the little concoction before meandering into the living room.

She laid on her side on the couch, holding a pillow against her stomach, and turned on the television. El decided she could watch her shows for a few hours and then get around to making herself look presentable for Mike. It wasn't like she was going to dress up or anything, but El figured she could put more of an effort into her appearance than just sweatpants. She watched tv for a couple hours, and without even realizing it, she soon drifted off to sleep.

El was jolted awake a couple hours later by the sound of knocking at the front door. She sat up in a daze, and blinked as she looked around the living room, trying to determine if she had really heard knocking. Then, the knock came again. The secret knock. El looked at the clock. 3:30pm. Mike was here.

She looked down at herself and immediately scolded herself for falling asleep instead of getting ready. But this is Mike, she reminded herself. He won't care what she's wearing.

El stood from the couch and walked over to the front door, flicking her head to the right to unlock it. Mike stepped in and closed the door quickly behind himself as the cold winter air blew in with him. He took off his shoes and coat and dropped his backpack next to the door.

"Hey," he smiled warmly as he wrapped El in a tight hug.

She didn't mean to, but El grunted when Mike squeezed her too tight.

"Are you okay?" Mike asked, pulling back.

"Fine," El replied, still not fully awake from her nap. "Just woke up."

"Yeah, you look like you had a comfy day today," Mike said casually.

El immediately felt self-conscious, looking down at her sweats again. Her hands went up to her curly hair and flattened it down the best she could.

"I meant to change before you got here, but… fell asleep," she said softly.

"That's okay," Mike said. "I didn't mean it as a bad thing. Besides, you're still pretty no matter what you wear."

El offered him a small smile which Mike returned before taking her hand and leading her back to the couch. She wriggled into his side, pulling his arm tightly around herself, and sighed contentedly. For a moment, the only sound was their breathing.

"So, what do you want to do today?" Mike broke the silence.

"Hmm?" El glanced up at him.

"Do you want to play a game? You're getting a lot better at shuffling cards. Or we could read some comics, or-"

"Why do we always have to be doing something?" El asked. "What is wrong with just this?"

"Well, nothing, I guess," Mike frowned, his brow furrowed. "It's just, I want to make the most of our time together."

"Then spend time with me like this," El said, snuggling against him and squeezing her arm around his waist.

Mike sighed. It didn't seem like El was in the mood to do anything today. Of course, he loved spending any amount of time with her, so he figured if she wanted to lay around, they could do that. He reached for the remote and started surfing through the channels when he heard El let out an exasperated sigh.

"What was wrong with what was on?" she asked.

"Um, nothing… I just thought I'd see what else is on," Mike replied. "Here, I'll put it back."

"Forget it. Watch what you want," El pouted.

"El, what's wrong?" Mike asked.

"Nothing," El replied firmly.

Mike certainly did not believe her, but he decided not to press the issue. He changed the channel back to where El had it and laid the remote back down. They silently watched tv, Mike wondering why El was being so moody, and El scolding herself for being so short with Mike.

Mike was absentmindedly stroking his fingers through El's curly hair when his fingers got caught in a tangle. She cried out as he pulled his hand back.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to," Mike said quickly.

El sighed again and rubbed her scalp which still stung.

"It was an accident, El. You know I wouldn't hurt you on purpose," Mike added.

"It's fine, Mike," El said, though Mike could sense that things were anything but fine. He took a deep breath.

"El, what's wrong?" he asked, repeating his question from earlier.

"Nothing. I told you, everything's fine," El said.

"El, friends don't lie," Mike reminded her. "It seems like all I've done is annoy you since I got here."

El looked up and saw that Mike looked hurt, and she instantly felt awful for how she had treated him all afternoon. She just couldn't help how irritable she was feeling.

"I'm sorry," she said softly. "I'm just… off today."

"Do you want me to go home?" Mike asked.

"No," El replied immediately, tightening her arm around his waist. She definitely knew she wanted him to stay; she just wished she could stop getting annoyed at every little thing.

"And you're sure you're okay?" Mike asked.

"Yes, Mike," El said, biting the inside of her cheek. "I just don't feel good today, okay?"

"Are you getting sick? Do you want some soup or something?" Mike offered.

"No, I don't want any soup," El replied, trying to keep the edge out of her voice. She knew he meant well. "I just want to lay here with you… Quietly."

Mike seemed to take the hint and stopped asking El what was wrong and how he could fix it. El truly loved how caring he was, and she hated how irritated she was getting when all he was trying to do was make sure she was okay. Stupid period. Stupid hormones.

After about twenty minutes, El was drifting peacefully between consciousness and unconsciousness. She felt her head rise and fall with Mike's chest each time he took a breath. She could hear his heart beating steadily, and she could feel his breath against the top of her head. It was the most peaceful she had felt all day, and a soft smile crossed her lips, until –

Mike's stomach growled, startling El back into reality, and she jumped and raised her head to look at her boyfriend.

"Hungry?" she asked simply.

"Yeah, sorry," Mike replied, looking guilty for disrupting her nap.

"It's okay. Me too," El said, sitting up.

Mike stood from the couch and walked into the kitchen.

"What do you want?" he asked, opening the refrigerator.

"Eggos," El replied predictably, and Mike chuckled.

"You sure you're not tired of those yet?" he quipped.

When he heard no reply, he looked over his shoulder and saw El staring at him with pursed lips and narrow eyes, her face turning a shade of red.

"Why do you have to do that?" she asked coolly. "You ask what I want and then make fun of my answer."

"El, I wasn't making fun of your answer," Mike said calmly. "Look, I'll make you Eggos-"

"No. Forget it," El said. Neither of them noticed when Hopper walked in the front door, just getting home from his shift. "Maybe you _should_ just go home."

"What? Come on, El, I was joking," Mike said.

"I don't care. Just leave me alone!" El exclaimed, tears starting to prickle the corners of her eyes as she stomped across the living room and slammed her bedroom door shut behind her.

Hopper, still standing in front of the front door, looked from El's closed bedroom door to Mike's expression of hurt and confusion. He sighed; it turns out witnessing Wheeler experience El's moodiness for the first time wasn't as fun as he was anticipating.

"It's not your fault, kid," Hopper said, placing his hat on the counter.

"What's wrong with her?" Mike asked.

Hopper chuckled and stepped into the kitchen, picking up a small pill bottle as he leaned against the counter.

"It's just a… difficult time for her right now," he replied, spinning the bottle so Mike could read the label. "It'll pass in a few days."

Mike read the label on the bottle in Hopper's hand. Midol. His face began to turn a light shade of pink as he realized what that meant, which caused Hopper to chuckle again.

"Look, kid, if you want to take a few days off from seeing her, I think she'd understand," Hopper suggested.

Mike shook his head. Hopper was right, she probably would understand. She would understand that Mike chose to avoid her because she was being difficult. She would understand that instead of being there for her in uncomfortable times, he left her to deal with things all alone. That's not what Mike wanted her to understand. He wanted her to understand that even when she was being difficult and things were uncomfortable, he would figure out what to do to make things even just a little bit easier for her.

When Mike got home that evening, he found himself standing outside Nancy's closed bedroom door. He thought about his options… Nancy, his mom, or Max… Mike stifled a groan, knowing his older sister was the best option he had. He just hoped she didn't make this conversation too unbearable. With a deep breath, Mike knocked on Nancy's door.

"Come in!" she called from inside.

Mike pushed the door open and stepped inside, closing it behind him. When Nancy looked up to see her brother, her eyebrows raised in surprise, having thought it was her mom.

"Mike? What's up?" she asked, confused.

"Hey, um, I was w-wondering if I could talk to you… I have some questions… about Eleven," Mike began awkwardly.

Nancy closed the magazine she had been reading and sat up on her bed, which Mike took as an invitation to continue, so he took a seat on the foot of her bed.

"What kind of questions?" Nancy asked gently.

"Well… it's… they're kind of personal questions. I don't know, it's… this is awkward," Mike said, his face turning pink.

"Mike, I think I know what this is about," Nancy said, her lips curling into a smirk as she surveyed her brother's face.

"You do?" Mike asked hopefully, looking up at her, thankful he may not have to say it out loud.

"Well, yeah. You've been spending so much time with her. It was only a matter of time before the idea of love crossed your mind, and you don't know how to tell her," Nancy said.

"What?! Oh my god, _no_. No, that is _not_ it at all," Mike insisted, his face rapidly turning from pink to red. "I-I do not _love_ her. And if I did, I wouldn't tell _you_."

"Okay, okay," Nancy laughed, trying to calm her brother's embarrassment. "I'm sorry. What is it, then?"

"I, um… I think she's, like… I think she…" Mike stammered, trying to just spit it out. "I think she's having her p-period."

Nancy waited for him to say more, but he did not.

"Okay?" she finally broke the silence.

"I don't know what to do with that, Nancy!" Mike said, exasperated. "I was over there today, and she was getting annoyed with every little thing that I did or said-"

"Like what?" Nancy asked.

"Like changing the channel on the tv. Or wanting to do something other than just lay around. Or when I accidentally pulled her hair, and it was _completely_ an accident. Then she kicked me out because I made a joke about her eating nothing but Eggos," Mike recapped the afternoon rapidly. "It's like I couldn't do anything without making her mad at me."

"She was not mad at you," Nancy smiled. "Girls are just extra moody during their time of the month."

"Yeah, well, they should learn to deal with it better," Mike huffed, and Nancy's eyebrows immediately raised.

"Says someone who will never actually know what it feels like because you're a _boy_," she said.

Mike hung his head and shrugged.

"Mike, periods suck. You wake up every morning, hoping you won't have a mess to clean up on your clothes or bedsheets. You walk around all day with cramps that can range anywhere from minor discomfort to literally feeling like someone is twisting a knife around inside your stomach. That's not to mention everything else you can feel, like headaches, nausea, exhaustion. And we're just supposed to suck it up and deal with it," Nancy explained.

"Are- are they really that bad?" Mike asked.

"They can be," Nancy replied. "But I've been having them for years, so-" Mike shuddered, "-oh don't be such a baby, Mike. You obviously know I've had them for years, or you wouldn't be here asking me about them."

"Sorry," Mike mumbled.

"Anyway, I've been having them for years, so I know how to handle it and make it through the week," Nancy continued. "I'm guessing Eleven hasn't had too many of them yet, being only thirteen. She's already having to adjust to living outside of the lab, having certain freedoms she never experienced before, having a whole new set of rules at Hopper's house, and all sorts of other things. Her mind has probably been in overdrive trying to adapt to this whole new life, and now all of a sudden her body is doing something uncomfortable that it never did before? Cut the girl some slack if she was a little short with you, Mike."

Mike thought about Nancy's words. She was obviously right, there was no denying that.

"So, is there anything I can do to make her feel better?" he asked.

"Just be there for her," Nancy sighed. "Let her watch what she wants to watch. Do whatever she wants to do, even if that is just laying around. Don't bombard her with questions about how she's feeling. And for the love of God, if the girl wants Eggos, let her eat Eggos."

Mike laughed.

"That's it?" he asked.

"And chocolate. Bring her some chocolate," Nancy added. "And back rubs."

"Back rubs?" Mike repeated.

"I don't know about El, but my back always hurts when I'm on my period," Nancy explained.

"Noted," Mike said. Talking to his sister about her periods was not exactly what he had planned on doing today when he had woken up this morning, but he found that Nancy had actually been quite helpful. "Thanks, Nancy."

"Any time," Nancy smiled. "Good luck."

The next day, El was laying on the couch, wrapped up in the comforter from her bed and watching _Grease_. It was just to the part where Danny and the guys were fixing up the car, but not even "Greased Lightning" was brightening her mood. She felt so guilty about how she had treated Mike the previous day. Hopper had told her this morning to be prepared for Mike to possibly not come over for a couple days, and as each minute ticked closed to 3:30, El wished harder and harder that she could do yesterday all over again.

Suddenly, at 3:28, the secret knock filled the cabin, and El perked up from the couch. She hurried over to the door and opened it to see Mike standing on the front porch. A wave of relief washed over El as Mike greeted her with his regular smile, as if she hadn't yelled at him and kicked him out over Eggos less than twenty-four hours prior.

"I'm so glad you came," El sighed as she jumped toward him, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him into a tight embrace.

"Of course I did," Mike chuckled. "I come every day at this time."

"I know, but… I thought maybe you wouldn't today… After yesterday…" El said as she pulled back from the hug. Her eyes dropped to the floor, ashamed of how she had treated him.

"Don't worry about yesterday," Mike said softly. "I know about, uh, what's going on."

"You do?" El asked, looking sheepishly up at him.

"Yeah," Mike nodded. "It's nothing to be embarrassed about."

El smiled, relieved that Mike had found out what she was going through and wasn't completely grossed out.

"Plus, I have something that might make you feel a little better," Mike continued.

"What?!" El asked, her eyes perking up in excitement.

Mike opened his backpack, and El watched as he pulled out the familiar yellow box.

"Eggos?" she grinned.

"Not just Eggos. _Chocolate chip _Eggos," Mike handed her the box.

"They make these with chocolate chips in them?!" El exclaimed, looking at the picture on the front of the box.

"Yep, and they're even better than the originals, if you can believe that," Mike said.

El smiled and threw her arms around his neck again. Mike wrapped his arms around her waist and held her closely but was careful not to squeeze her too tight.

"Thank you," El whispered into his ear.

"You're welcome," Mike said just as softly.

El pulled back and carried the box of chocolate chip Eggos into the kitchen and opened it. She pulled a plate down from the cabinet and placed two of the waffles into the toaster.

"I have something else for you, too," Mike said, reaching into his backpack again. He pulled out a handful of Hershey's milk chocolate bars, and El's eyes doubled in size.

"So much chocolate," she said.

"Just in case you want something else for a snack," Mike said. He placed the chocolate bars on the counter.

Soon, Mike and El were sitting next to each other on the couch with a plate of chocolate chip Eggos. El restarted _Grease_, and the Eggos were gone before the opening credits song was even finished.

El placed the empty plate on the coffee table and snuggled into Mike's side, wrapping her comforter around both of them.

"Mike?" she said suddenly, looking up at him. "I'm sorry about yesterday."

"I know, and it's okay," Mike said, kissing the top of her head.

"Sometimes this stupid period just makes me so… so…" El scrunched her forehead, trying to find the right word.

"It's okay," Mike repeated. He definitely was not going to offer 'moody,' 'irritable,' or 'temperamental' as options, even if they might all be true. "It just means we get to take it easy and eat chocolate while wrapped up in a blanket."

"Exactly," El giggled. After a moment of silence, a thought struck Mike.

"El, do you know how long girls usually get periods?" he wondered.

"A whole week once a month… for forty years," El replied bitterly.

"Forty years?" Mike repeated, his eyes widening in shock, and El nodded. "That's going to be a _lot_ of chocolate chip Eggos."

El giggled and squeezed her arms tightly around his waist. She leaned up and placed a soft kiss on Mike's lips before laying her head back on his chest to watch the movie. Mike started to rub his hand gently up and down her back, and El drifted off to sleep before they even got to "Summer Nights."

Mike softly kissed the top of El's head as she slept, and then he soon fell into his own slumber, thinking that doing this for the next forty years wouldn't be so bad.

**0-0-0**

**A/N: Thanks for reading. I hope you all enjoyed this one. Leave me a review to let me know what you thought, and I'll be back soon!**


	11. Same Night Sky

**A/N: Welcome back! I have a short one for you today, but I missed writing innocent Mileven stories, so here we are. I hope you all enjoy it, and please remember to leave me a review!**

**Nighting Ryder: Thank you. Glad you enjoyed seeing Nancy. Let me know if you want to see more appearances by other characters!**

**Shrike176: I'm glad that you enjoyed the last one. It was definitely fun to write!**

**Mike and El: Aw! Thanks, I'm glad you liked it so much!**

**CalvinHobbesGatsby: Thank you, I am so glad to hear that.**

**Jane Eleanor Wheeler: Thank you. Sweet and funny is the best combination.**

**UnoPeso22: Thank you. Wholesome Mileven is one of my favorites to write. I enjoy some good drama, but these little wholesome moments have my heart.**

**Phieillydinyia: Thank you!**

**Afanofstrangerthingsandstuff: Thank you. I like to cover a wide variety of topics, so I'm definitely glad you enjoyed it!**

**NoDownSide: To your reviews for chapters 4 and 7, chapter 4 was one of my favorites to write! It was so fun. And in chapter 7, no real reason for the name being Cassie. Just a name that I kind of liked and would be realistic for a baby born in the 90s.**

**Liya: Thank you. I'm glad you liked it, and I hope we get to see some of this in Mileven too!**

**Setting: Spring 1985, between the events of seasons 2 and 3.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Stranger Things or any of its characters.**

**0-0-0**

_Mike hit his knees on the cold, hard hallway floor next to Eleven's motionless body. His heart was pounding in his chest as he gently shook her, hoping she would open her eyes and be okay._

"_She's barely breathing," he said to Dustin and Lucas who were right next to him. "We've got to go!"_

"_Leave her!" demanded a voice that sent chills down Mike's spine._

_Mike, Dustin, and Lucas stood up, turning to face the thin man with silver hair walking toward them._

"_Step away from the child," he demanded._

"_No!" Mike exclaimed, the adrenaline coursing through his veins making him sound more confident than he ordinarily would. "You want her? You have to kill us first!"_

"_That's right!" Dustin agreed, stepping forward next to Mike._

"_Yeah, eat shit!" Lucas added_

_Suddenly, the three boys were grabbed from behind by men much larger and much stronger than they were. Mike, Dustin, and Lucas struggled against the arms that held them, and Mike watched in horror as the bad man crouched down next to Eleven and lifted her face up so it was level with his own._

"_Eleven? Eleven, can you hear me?" he asked in a calmer tone that still made Mike's skin crawl. "Eleven?"_

"_Papa?" came El's soft voice, and Mike struggled even harder against the arms that held him back._

"_Yes, yes it's your papa," Brenner said in his most soothing voice._

"_Get off of me!" Mike screamed at the guard. He saw El turn her head toward him, but Mike was fixated on the man holding her. "Let her go! Let her go, you bastard!"_

_Brenner turned El's head back toward himself, and Mike fought with all his might against the guard holding him back as El started to whimper in fear of the man touching her._

"_Shh, you're sick. You're sick, and I'm going to make you better," Brenner said softly. "I'm going to take you back home where I can make you well again, where we can make all of this better, so no one else gets hurt."_

_No. Mike couldn't let that happen. He couldn't let this bad man take her anywhere. He had to get to her, had to save her, had to protect her._

"_Bad," El said softly, looking right at Brenner. "Bad."_

_Mike's heart clenched in his chest as El turned toward him again, reaching her arm out for him._

"_Mike," she called._

_Mike pulled and kicked and tried as hard as he could to free himself from the arms containing him, but he just couldn't break free._

"_Mike," El called again._

_He was desperate. El was scared and needed him, but Mike couldn't get to her._

"_Mike!" she cried out once more._

_Then the lights started to flicker. Mike, Dustin, Lucas, Brenner, El, and the guards all looked around the hallway, an eerie silence falling over them._

"_Blood," Mike uttered, the realization striking him that the blood spilled on the floor had attracted a deadly beast from the Upside Down._

_Suddenly, Mike was hit with a wave of déjà vu. He had seen this before. This was the part when the demogorgon would burst through the wall, and the guards would let him, Dustin, and Lucas go while they try to shoot the monster. Mike would rush to El, Dustin would pick her up, and they would run away. Then El would defeat the demogorgon and disappear for 353 excruciatingly long days, but she would come back to him. Mike breathed a sigh of relief as he watched the wall, waiting for the demogorgon to break through._

_He furrowed his brow as the seconds passed and the wall remained completely in tact. It was taking too long. It should've happened by now. Suddenly, the lights stopped flickering, and Mike looked back at Brenner who turned to face him with a snarl on his lips that made Mike's stomach sink._

"_Not this time," Brenner sneered._

"_NO!" Mike screamed as Brenner pulled El into his arms and began walking down the hallway away from him._

"_Mike!" El continued to cry desperately from Brenner's arms as he walked away carrying her._

"_EL! EL!" Mike hollered after her, still struggling against the guard._

_He tried and tried to get away, to run after her, to save her. But he couldn't. All Mike could do was watch Brenner walk further and further away until he and El disappeared from sight, while Mike struggled helplessly to chase after her._

_Then, Mike couldn't breathe. His chest tightened, his head started spinning, and his breath became short, desperate gasps for air. She was gone. El was gone. He couldn't save her, and now she was back with the bad men. And it was all his fault. The world kept spinning and spinning until Mike saw only darkness._

Mike woke up with a deep gasp for air, covered in sweat. He looked around his room, trying to convince himself that everything was okay, that he was safely at home in his bed, and that it was just a bad dream.

"El," he whispered, panic filling his chest again as he remembered Brenner walking away carrying her.

He reached toward his bedside table until his fingers felt his walkie, and he pulled it to himself. Mike pressed down the button and spoke urgently into it.

"El? El, do you copy? El, are you there? Over."

Several miles away, El Hopper was peacefully sleeping in her bedroom, safely in the secluded cabin that had become her home. She began to stir, and her eyelids fluttered as she was slowly pulled out of her slumber by her favorite sound: Mike's voice.

"El, please, if you're there, say something."

Panic filled her own chest at the urgency in his voice, and she grasped the walkie Mike had given her for Christmas from her nightstand.

"Mike?" she said into it. "Mike, it's me… I'm here."

Back on Maple Street, Mike let out a long sigh of relief and closed his eyes, leaning his forehead against the walkie.

"Thank god," he muttered to himself.

"Mike? A-are you there?" came El's voice again, sounding unsure.

"Yeah," Mike sighed into his walkie. "Yeah, I'm here, El."

"Mike… what is wrong?" El asked, and Mike could almost see her forehead creasing in concern.

"Nothing, I just… I wanted to hear your voice. That's all," Mike replied, hoping she would believe him.

"Mike… friends don't lie," came El's mantra.

Mike sighed and laid back against his pillow. He should have known El would read right through him. He just didn't want to worry her.

"Mike… did it… happen again? The bad dream?" El asked softly when Mike did not respond.

"Yeah… It happened again," Mike said into the walkie.

There was no use trying to keep it from her. He had tried to keep it from her the first time it happened, just days after they were reunited at the Byers' house. But El was relentless, and she could tell something was wrong. Mike had given in and told her about his bad dream.

For Christmas, when Mike had given El her own walkie, he had told her that she could use their own special channel – channel 11, of course – and call him any time she needed to. El had told him the same thing.

Since then, this was the third time Mike had awoken El in the middle of the night by calling out to her through the walkie in a panic. El's heart broke for him each time.

"It was that night… in the school hallway," Mike said quietly. "It was like I was reliving it. But then, the demogorgon didn't come… And he took you, and I couldn't do anything to stop it or to save you. And you were just gone."

Mike felt tears welling in his eyes as he played his dream over and over again in his head.

"But, he didn't take me, Mike," El's soothing voice came through his walkie. "I'm right here, and I'm okay."

"But what if…" Mike stopped, his lip quivering as he held back his tears. He didn't want to speak his fears out loud and scare her.

"What if… Papa comes back for me?" El asked quietly, as if she read his mind.

"Yeah," Mike breathed into the walkie, squeezing his eyes closed as the first of his tears escaped.

The day after they had reunited at the Byers' house, El had filled Mike in on everything, including her trip to find Kali. When El told Mike about the vision of Brenner that Kali had made her see, the realization set in that Brenner still being out there could be a very real possibility. It had not left Mike's mind since.

"I can't lose you again, El, and I know I wouldn't be strong enough to protect you," Mike admitted. "I just… I guess my biggest fear is you being in danger, and me not being able to save you."

El was silent for a long time, and Mike stared at his walkie, holding his breath and hoping she was still there.

"You already saved me, Mike," she said gently. "And you won't lose me."

Mike smiled as she repeated her promise to him that she had made on the Byers' front porch that night. He sniffled and wiped the tears from his cheeks.

"I just wish the bad dreams would stop, you know?" Mike asked.

"I know. I wish yours would stop… I wish mine would stop," El said quietly.

It felt like a blow to the stomach when El mentioned her own nightmares. This was only the third time that Mike had woken El up after having a nightmare, but she had woken him up at least twice a week since getting the walkie for Christmas.

"I'm sorry, El," Mike said, feeling guilty and selfish for complaining about his nightmares that happen much more infrequently than El's. "You have it way worse than me. I shouldn't bother you with this."

"You never bother me," El said firmly. "I want you to tell me when you have bad dreams… It makes me feel… like I am not alone."

"You're not alone, El," Mike assured her. "You'll never be alone."

"Neither will you," El said.

Mike smiled again and laid his walkie on his chest, feeling that his heartrate had returned to normal.

"Do you feel better?" El asked, and Mike chuckled at how in sync their thoughts were.

"Yeah. You always make me feel better," he replied.

"Good," El said, and Mike could hear the smile in her voice through the walkie.

"I should let you get back to sleep now," Mike said, sadness creeping into his voice.

"Are you coming over tomorrow?" El asked slowly, and Mike could tell she was trying not to sound overly excited.

"Of course. I'll be there right after school lets out," Mike replied, and then he sighed. "I wish I could be with you now, though."

It was true. Even though hearing El's voice had put his mind at ease, Mike knew the likelihood of him falling back asleep tonight was low. He would not feel completely at peace again until he was able to see her, hug her, hold her, feel her in his arms, smell her hair, taste the Eggos on her lips.

"I wish you could, too," El said, and then she got an idea.

Back in the cabin, El stood from her bed and crossed her bedroom floor to the window. She pushed her curtains aside and slid her window up, letting the late night breeze roll in.

"Mike, open your window," she said into her walkie.

From his place in his bed, Mike furrowed his brow in confusion at her request, but he did not question it. He stood from his bed to unlock and open his own window and sat back down on the edge of his bed, the breeze making him shiver as it blew inside.

"Okay, my window is open. But why?" he asked.

"Can you see the moon?" El asked.

Mike craned his neck to spot the big white ball in the sky.

"Yeah," he said.

"What does it look like?" El asked, and Mike furrowed his brow in confusion again.

"Uh, round? It's, uh, a full moon, so it's just a big white ball," he explained what he saw.

"It looks… foggy, I think… to me," El said, and Mike smiled. She was looking at the moon, too.

"Yeah, like a thin cloud is passing in front of it or something," Mike agreed.

"Yes," El said. "Can you see all the stars? There are so many of them."

"I can't see as many as you can because of the streetlights by my house," Mike said. "But there's a really bright, shiny one, just to the-"

"To the left of the moon," El finished for him.

"Yeah," Mike smiled.

He leaned back against his pillow, feeling a warming sense of calmness knowing that he and El were looking up at the same night sky.

"It is almost… like… you're here," El said quietly.

Mike smiled as he pulled his blankets back up to his chin and laid on his side, facing the moon out the window.

"Almost," he said into the walkie. "It will have to do for now."

In the cabin, El laid back in her own bed and pulled her blankets tightly around her, laying on her side so she could face the moon out her window.

"El, thanks for talking to me tonight," Mike said, his eyelids beginning to feel heavy, and El could hear the sleepiness creeping into his voice. "I'm really glad I can call you when… when bad things happen."

"You can call me any time," El said softly. "I will always answer."

"I know," Mike said as his eyes finally closed. "Good night, El."

"Night, Mike," El replied softly, her voice being the last thing Mike heard before drifting into a peaceful, uninterrupted sleep.

**0-0-0**

**A/N: I have one in here where Mike comforts El after a bad dream, and the idea of El comforting Mike came to me during a nap today lol. So, here it is. I hope you liked it. Please remember to leave me a review. Thanks for reading!**


	12. Never Be Alone

**A/N: Two chapters in two days! I've just been inspired recently for Mileven one-shots, and I've had the time to knock them out. So, I hope you all enjoy this one. Thanks for reading, as always! And please remember to leave me a review!**

**FavStarngerthings: Thank you! I'm glad you like them, and I hope you like this one too.**

**Disneyprincess315: I agree. Of course, I love seeing Mike comfort El, but seeing El comfort Mike is so touching on another level. I'm glad you enjoyed the bit with the sky as well!**

**Shrike176: Ooh, I can definitely see vibes from the one-shot of Mike explaining to El that he would not fall out of love with her. Great to hear that one was your favorite! I'm glad you like this collection so much. I hope you like this one too.**

**Nighting Ryder: Aw thanks! I'm glad you liked it so much.**

**Setting: Canon divergence. Hopper never went missing at the end of ST3. Hopper and Joyce had their date at Enzo's, and the Hopper and Byers family has been one ever since. El started school with the party in fall of 1986 when they were 15 and sophomores. This takes place fall of 1988 during their senior year, and they are 17.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Stranger Things or any of its characters.**

**0-0-0**

El Hopper nervously tapped her finger on the countertop while she counted backward on the calendar for probably the thousandth time that day. She didn't know how she hadn't realized it earlier. It was probably because her mind had been in such a whirlwind recently with midterms, college applications, and her part-time job at Melvald's where Joyce had encouraged her to work for some extra savings. El found that the time was flying by, so of course she hadn't realized… that is, until earlier today when Max had complained about her cramps, and the realization struck El that she could not remember the last time she had had a period.

Typically, El's periods were pretty regular. They weren't four weeks to the day like clockwork, but they usually started within a day or two of when they should. So, as El pored over the calendar laying in front of her on the counter, she couldn't believe that the last time she had had a period was six weeks ago. She was two weeks late. This was unheard of for her.

Suddenly, El heard a car pull into the driveway of the house that Hopper and Joyce had bought together, and she quickly hung the calendar back on the wall where it belonged. There was a knock on the front door, and she knew it was Mike. He had said he had to go home and get Holly after the bus dropped her off from school, and then he would take her to a friend's house and then come over. El took a deep breath and walked to the door, hoping she appeared normal. As she reached for the doorknob, she noticed her hand was shaking.

"Hey baby," Mike smiled and leaned down to peck her lips when she had opened the door.

"H-hi," El stammered with a forced smile, stepping to the side so Mike could come in. "Did you, uh, d-did you get Holly taken care of?"

"Yeah, I did," Mike replied, furrowing his brow and observing El with a look of concern. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," El said, finally having a handle on her words again. "I didn't sleep well last night, and I fell asleep on the couch. You woke me up when you knocked, so I was just a little out of it."

"Oh. Okay," Mike shrugged, and El felt a wave of relief that he believed her, though she felt a pang of guilt for lying to him. "So do you want to do it in your room or in the kitchen?"

"W-what?!" El gasped.

"The project for Mr. Thomas's class," Mike replied slowly, creasing his forehead in concern.

"Oh, right!" El exclaimed and laughed lightly. "Sorry, I must still be waking up."

"Babe, are you sure you're okay?" Mike asked, stepping closer to her and taking her hands in his.

"I'm fine," El smiled up at him and then leaned up to kiss him on the lips for emphasis. "And we can go to my room."

Moments later, they were seated next to each other at the desk in El's room. Their textbooks were open in front of them, and Mike was talking about the history project that was due next Friday. Ordinarily, El loved listening to Mike speak. She would hang on every word he said; he was so smart and passionate, and the sound of his voice was the most calming thing to her. But today, she was distracted. She could hear his voice, but she wasn't hearing the words. Every now and then, she nodded along to whatever he said.

"Oh! I almost forgot. Guess what was in the mail when I got home today," Mike said, pulling El out of her thoughts. She wondered how long he had been talking about something other than their project.

"What?" she asked, trying to focus on her boyfriend.

"Two acceptance letters. One to Notre Dame and one to Northwestern," Mike replied, and El forced a smile on her face to hide the clenching of her heart in her chest.

"Th-that's… so great, sweetie. Congratulations," she managed, wrapping her arms around his neck and hugging him tightly, squeezing her eyes closed.

_Are you really going to ask him to give that up?_ she asked herself.

"Thanks, baby," Mike said as they pulled back from the hug. "Have you heard anything back from any colleges yet?"

"Uh, no. No, I don't think so," El replied, looking down at the floor and trying to keep down the lump that was forming in her throat.

"Well, hey, that's alright. I know you will," Mike said gently, reaching forward to take one of her hands. "You're so smart, El. I'm so proud of how far you've come the past couple years."

El raised her head up and rolled her eyes up to the ceiling, trying to blink back the tears that were filling them.

"El, don't cry," Mike soothed her. "It's still early."

"It's not that," El whispered.

"Then what is it? Please, tell me what's wrong," Mike asked in his softest voice, the one El knew was just for her.

She looked at him, taking in every beautiful feature of his face. His sharp cheekbones peppered with freckles that El had traced millions of times, his soft pink lips that El had felt all over her body so many times, his deep dark eyes that could always captivate her and which were now looking at her filled with worry. God, she loved him. He was so excited to graduate high school and go on to college. They had talked numerous times about all the fun they would have during the summer between high school and college… road trips up to the lake, the amusement park, camping, just being together every day until moving away to college.

Was that summer that they dreamed of gone forever? Would they both be forced to give up their college plans? Would Mike resent her for that? Would they have to forget about school, get full-time jobs just to support a child, never end up with careers they love, and live unhappily wondering how different things could have been?

El did not realize she had started to cry until Mike reached forward and cupped her cheek, wiping her tears away with his thumb. El placed her hand overtop of his on her cheek and turned her face in his palm, kissing his thumb softly.

"Mike… I love you," she whispered, swallowing down a sob.

"I love you too, El," Mike said back softly.

"I think…" El let out a deep, shaky breath. "I-I might be… p-pregnant."

Mike's eyes widened, and his mouth dropped open as his stomach began doing flips. His mind started racing, wondering how that could be possible. Of course, he knew they had sex frequently, and he knew El was not on the pill. She had been blessed with mild periods, and she had no medical reason to be on the pill, so she never felt comfortable enough asking Joyce and Hopper to let her take it. Sure, they used condoms sometimes, but Mike knew there had been times when they were in the heat of the moment and wearing a condom was overlooked. Normally, he was good about pulling out in time when that happened, but Mike knew there had been a few times when he wasn't able to do that either… He had assumed they had just been lucky. He had never considered a time when their luck might run out.

"Uh, um… p-pregnant? H-how do you… why do you…" Mike trailed off.

"I'm two weeks late, Mike. I'm never this late," El said, sniffling through her tears.

"Oh," Mike breathed, still in a daze.

"Mike, I'm scared," El squeaked out before letting the sob escape that she had been holding in.

Mike immediately was pulled from his thoughts and wrapped his arms tightly around El, pulling her against him. El clung to him, her face pressed against his chest, soaking his shirt with her tears, and Mike soothingly rubbed her back while her body shook with sobs in his arms.

"It'll be okay, El," Mike murmured against her hair and kissed the top of her head.

"N-no it w-won't," El stammered. "N-nothing will ever b-be the same."

Mike held her silently while El cried into him. He gently caressed her back and ran his fingers through her hair, giving her time to let out everything she had been holding in. When El finally seemed to be calming down, Mike kissed the top of her head again and placed a finger under her chin, gently tilting her head up to look at him.

"I'm scared, too," he admitted. "But we're in this together, El. If you are… I'll be with you every step of the way."

"I can't ask you to do that, Mike," El shook her head. "You can't give up your future because of me."

"You aren't asking me to do anything, El," Mike said. "And giving up my future would be leaving you to handle this alone… You are my future. You and any kids we may have. You're way more important to me than, what, college?"

"But you're so excited-"

"Yeah, I am, but plans change. And it doesn't mean we would never go to college. We could take a year off, go to college part-time. Sure, it would take longer, but we would still get there," Mike said logically.

"Y-you would really do that?" El asked.

"For you and our family? Of course I would. El, I would do anything for you," Mike said, resting his forehead against hers.

"I love you so much," El whispered. "I was scared you would hate me for ruining your future."

"_That's_ what you were scared of?" Mike asked. "That could _never_ happen. I love you. I'm going to love you no matter what, for the rest of my life. I promise."

El felt her eyes begin to rim with tears again, this time from the weight of Mike's words to her. She leaned in and kissed him softly, feeling him tighten his hold around her waist.

"Will you, um, stay with me while I take a test?" El asked when she pulled back.

"Of course," Mike answered immediately. "Do you already have one?"

"No," El shook her head. "And we can't go to Melvald's to buy one, obviously."

"My parents are out of town right now. We can stop at the drug store a couple blocks from my house, and then we can go there to take it," Mike suggested.

El nodded her head. She liked the idea of being the only two people in the house while taking the test, and if she was being honest, she did not want to take the test at her house anyway. She was certain Hopper, Joyce, or Will would find it, and whether the test was positive or negative, she did not want to deal with those repercussions.

Mike drove the two of them to the drug store, and they walked inside hand-in-hand. It did not take long to find the pregnancy tests, as they were right next to the condoms, and this store was where Mike typically bought his condoms. El looked up and down the shelves of pregnancy tests with wide eyes. There were so many.

"Which one should I get?" she asked quietly, and Mike looked down at her, his face just as confused as hers.

"Um… I don't know. Have you, like, heard of any of these before?" he asked, and El shrugged her shoulders.

She reached for a pink and white box that boasted over 99% accurate results and said to have three tests inside.

"I think you're supposed to take multiple tests anyway, just to be sure," she explained, and Mike nodded.

They were both ready to book it out of there, but they walked up to the cashier to pay for the tests, avoiding eye contact as the middle-aged woman rang them up. El didn't want to risk seeing judgement or pity in the woman's eyes. Then, they were back in the car on their way to Mike's house.

Inside, Mike started upstairs, planning to have El take the tests in the upstairs bathroom, but El had different plans.

"Mike," she said softly, and he turned to face her. "Can we go to the basement to do it?"

El had been to Mike's house hundreds of times. She felt welcome everywhere, and she loved joining them for family dinners in the dining room, helping Karen clean up in the kitchen, curling up with Mike in the living room or in his bedroom, but El's favorite spot in the Wheeler house was still and always would be the basement. It was where she felt the safest and the most at home, and realistically, if she was pregnant, there was a very good chance that the basement was where the baby was conceived.

"Sure. Whatever you want," Mike said, taking her hand and walking with her toward the basement stairs.

Downstairs, Mike walked with El to the bathroom door, and then she turned to face him.

"I'm going to… you know… and then I'll come out and wait with you," she said, and Mike nodded. He leaned forward and kissed El's forehead, causing her to smile softly despite the nearly paralyzing anxiety she was feeling.

"I'll be right out here if you need me. And remember, everything is going to be okay," Mike said softly.

El nodded and walked into the bathroom, closing the door most of the way, but leaving it cracked just about three inches. Mike leaned his back against the wall next to the bathroom doorframe and let out a deep sigh. He closed his eyes and rested his head against the wall.

What was going to happen? What if she really was pregnant? He was seventeen. He wasn't ready to be a father. He had always expected that someday he and El would have kids together, but not yet. They weren't ready. They didn't have any money. They weren't even living together. They were still in high school. Would his parents let El move in with them so their little family could be together? Would Hopper let Mike move in with them? Would Hopper even let Mike live to see the birth of the baby? Assuming Hopper didn't kill him, would Mike and El have to keep living separately? Mike wanted to be there for El no matter what she needed, whether it was craving ice cream in the middle of the night or accompanying her to her doctor's appointments or a back rub or foot massage. He wanted to be there for her. What would his parents say? There was no way Mike would go away to college next fall. He had told El they could take a year off and go to college part-time while working. But how would his parents react to that? Not well, Mike assumed. Then there was the act of actually raising a baby… Mike was old enough to remember Holly as a newborn, but this would be different. What was he supposed to do with a baby? He didn't know anything about raising a child. What if he screwed the baby up bigtime?

Just then, he felt El's arms wrap around his waist, and he looked down to see her resting her head against his chest, her eyes closed. Mike smiled and did his best to silence his own fears. No matter how scared he was, he knew El was even more terrified. She would be the one carrying this baby. Their baby. His heart fluttered at the thought of 'their baby.' Mike needed to be strong for her and get her through the next three minutes, and possibly the next nine months and the next eighteen years.

"Did you take them all?" he asked softly, and El shook her head.

"Just two. I couldn't pee anymore," she replied, and Mike chuckled.

"Okay. Well, hopefully they both say the same thing and we don't need the third," he said, and El nodded.

"Can we wait over there?" El asked, gesturing toward the spot where their blanket fort stood.

Mike had rebuilt the blanket fort a few times over the years as they grew bigger and taller. Neither of them cared that it may seem childish to still have and regularly use a blanket fort. To them, it was special.

"Of course," Mike replied.

They walked over and crawled into the blanket fort. Mike leaned his back against the back wall, and El curled into his side, resting her head on his shoulder while he wrapped his arm around her, pulling her against him. She breathed in, inhaling everything about him from the scent of the laundry detergent on his clothes to his shampoo to his cologne to the smell that was just _him_. El squeezed her arm around his waist as she let out her deep breath, thankful that if she had to go through something so nerve-wracking, that at least Mike was the one she was going through it with. Nobody else in the world could calm her down just by being there.

"How are you feeling?" Mike asked quietly.

"Anxious," El replied. "But thankful that you're here."

"Of course I'm here," Mike mumbled against her temple before kissing her head.

"How are you feeling?" El returned the question.

She looked up at him. Ever since she had broken the news, Mike had done just what he always does and did his best to make El feel better. El knew he was scared too; he even admitted it back in her bedroom. She wanted to try and ease his mind the best she could like he did to her.

"I guess you could say I'm anxious too," Mike replied. "It's just a lot to think about… Telling your parents, telling my parents, living arrangements, school… obviously the baby itself."

"Your mom would hate me," El said, realizing for the first time that they would have to tell their parents.

"My mom? Your dad is former police chief Jim Hopper. We'd be lucky if he let me live long enough to meet the kid," Mike joked, trying to lighten the mood.

To his delight, El did giggle and hug him tightly again.

"He would have to be just as mad at me as you," El said logically.

"I don't think he would be. I'm the one who got you into this situation," Mike said.

"We both had a part in that," El pointed out.

"Yeah, but I should've worn protection every time," Mike argued.

"And I didn't make you," El countered. "We're both equally responsible. I'm just glad you've been next to me the whole time."

"There's no way I'd let you do this alone," Mike promised, tightening his grip around her shoulders and kissing the top of her head, and El knew he was referring to more than just taking the test today.

El reached for Mike's wrist and tilted it so she could see the time on his watch. She felt her stomach somersault when she realized it had been over three minutes, and she gulped.

"It's time," she said.

Mike and El stood and walked back to the bathroom. When they reached the doorway, Mike stopped and turned El to face him. She looked up at him and saw so much love and fear looking back at her in his dark eyes.

"Before we go in there, I just want you to know that no matter what those tests say, it won't change how I feel about you. I love you more than anything else in the world, and whatever happens, we will face it together," Mike said gently, causing El's eyes to rim with tears once again.

"Promise?" she sniffled, a small smile tugging at the corners of her lips.

"Promise," Mike replied, smiling back at her automatically before he leaned in to kiss her forehead. "Ready?"

El took a deep breath and nodded. They took each other's hand and walked into the small bathroom over to the counter where the two tests were waiting to be read. Mike and El each picked up one of the tests and raised them to eye level, both holding their breath.

"Mike? What does yours say?" El asked timidly.

"One line. What about yours?" Mike asked.

"One line," El replied.

"What does that mean?" Mike asked as El fumbled for the box.

She skimmed the words on the instructions, and Mike watched her intently until she let out a long sigh of relief and a smile filled her entire face.

"Not pregnant," she announced, dropping the test onto the counter and jumping at Mike, throwing her arms around his neck and wrapping her legs around his hips.

"Oh, thank god," Mike laughed, dropping the other test onto the counter and wrapping his arms tightly around El's waist.

El immediately met his lips with hers, kissing him passionately and weaving her fingers into his hair. When she pulled back, she rested her forehead against his and gazed into his eyes, unable to contain the smile on her face.

"That's such a relief," El sighed.

"Tell me about it," Mike chuckled, setting El down on her own feet again.

"I still wonder why my period is so late though," El said, furrowing her brow.

"Aren't there other things that can affect it? Like stress or something? You've had a lot going on lately," Mike offered as an explanation.

"That's probably it," El nodded. "I'm just so glad it's not a baby… It's like the weight of the world is lifted."

"Definitely," Mike agreed as he followed El back out of the bathroom and back to their blanket fort.

They got settled into the fort, both feeling much more at ease after reading the test results. Mike laid on his back and rested his head on some pillows, and El was laying halfway on top of him, resting her chin on his chest so she could look at him while they talked.

"I just want to thank you for being so amazing today," El said. "You're amazing every day, but I was so scared, and you were with me every step of the way. I can't imagine going through all this without you."

"You don't have to thank me," Mike said, rubbing his hand up and down her back. "I'll be with you through everything. Always."

"I love you," El smiled, leaning in to kiss him again.

"I love you, too," Mike said. "And someday when we take another one of those tests, I hope we're excited about it. Because I do want children with you, but not for a long time."

"Agreed," El laughed.

"We've got to be more careful," Mike said seriously, and El smirked in return as she felt Mike's hand slide lower down her body.

"Well then maybe you should get your hand off my ass, because I don't know about you, but I don't carry condoms around with me," she quipped.

"Lucky for you," Mike began before suddenly rolling them over so he was on top of El, "I have a few right in here."

He reached his hand between where two of the blankets meet, and El heard him pull open a drawer of the desk next to the fort. When Mike pulled his hand back inside, he was holding a familiar square wrapper and he shot her a satisfied smirk. El rolled her eyes and shook her head but couldn't help but laugh.

Mike felt his heart skip a beat as he watched El's face fill with genuine happiness after an afternoon of such fear and uncertainty. He leaned down to meet her lips in a slow, sensual kiss, and let his lips linger against hers a few seconds longer before pulling away. When El opened her eyes, Mike saw in them that something had changed. Somehow, the love in her eyes shone even brighter for him, and as they made love that evening, they felt closer and more connected than they ever had. Mike had always said that he would be there for El no matter what, and today he had the chance to prove it. El knew she would never again have to be afraid to tell Mike anything, because no matter what it was, they would get through it together.

**0-0-0**

**A/N: I hope you all enjoyed this one. I have actually been playing around with the idea of a full-length story centered around an unexpected Mileven pregnancy around 16 or 17 years old. It wouldn't happen for a while; I'm talking after Out Of The Woods is finished and after my Tied Together With A Smile sequel. So, probably a year from now, realistically. But let me know if that is something you guys may be interested in! Anyway, please remember to leave me a review, and I'll see you next time!**


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